Words by Smiley Team
The charity CéKeDuBonheur (This is Happiness) works to help improve the life of hospitalised young people across France through enlisting the help of volunteers who are able to bring joy to the kids. Across France, 150 volunteers visit hospitals, bringing games, books, stationery and company into what can be a scary and an unnerving environment for children.
Right now, the work of CKBD is more important than ever, as families and other visitors are not permitted to visit hospitals due to the pandemic. Life for young people in hospitals has become even harder as paediatric units have been forced to take on adult patients, and wards have become a much more difficult place to grow up. This has also meant that the charity have had to adapt the way they work to ensure that the young people are supported as best as possible.
Sonia Boa Guehe, General Coordinator at CKDB told us that the charity is providing magic sound boxes into which families of hospitalised children can record a message or read to them. “Hospital environments can be overwhelming and clinical and thus these boxes provide a much welcome relief to the sounds of the medical machines” said Guehe. For teenagers, CKBD are providing tablets so that the young people are able to continue their education as well as keep in touch with friends and family.
Fashion brand Celio has joined forces with Smiley once again to create a collection designed to bring joy and good vibes. For every purchase of an item in the collection, 1€ will go to CéKeDuBonheur.
Hélene Sy, President of CKBD is thrilled about this collaboration and says there are great synergies between the brands and charity, stating “...we all want to bring smiles and happiness in one way or another…”.
Profits generated through the collaboration will go towards buying things for the children which will tangibly benefit their lives, whether through entertaining or entertaining. On social media CKDB are encouraging people to use the hashtag #CKDBChallenge, on which people can leave messages of support for the young people, some of whom have access to phones which is significantly boosting their morale.
Celio has always championed social action and regularly has ‘Feel Good Days’ where staff participate in charitable activities. Helping people in need is part of their DNA, and they hope to be a positive influence on other companies. Aline Pihier, Director of CSR and Internal Comms for Celio tells us that the collaboration in aid of CKDB came about after a staff survey said they wanted to support a children’s charity. Prior to lockdown the staff would visit the hospitals to interact with the children, and even organised a t-shirt customisation workshop. Pihier emphasises ‘we would like to see more brands and corporations getting involved with social action”.
Celio has developed an in-store scheme where people can donate irrespective of item purchases ensuring as much money as possible can be raised for the charity.
