Children’s Health Foundation launches its 2025 Christmas Save a Smile Campaign – calling on companies to support sick children, many of whom will spend the festive season in hospital.
As Christmas approaches, excitement grows for children across the country. However, for many sick children and their families, this time of year can bring worry, uncertainty and long days spent far from home. Some families are anxiously awaiting diagnoses, others are navigating complex treatment plans. Many children face the heartbreaking reality of spending Christmas in a hospital bed.
Children’s Health Foundation has launched this year’s Save a Smile appeal, inviting businesses to help make a meaningful difference for sick children this festive season. This important campaign will help bring the magic of Christmas to sick children.
Few things are as special as the joy on a child’s face at Christmas. Your support will help ensure that even children in hospital can experience the magic of the festive season - bringing immediate relief, joy and comfort during an especially difficult time. Your generosity will also create lasting impact, helping to fund life-saving equipment, essential family supports, and pioneering paediatric research across Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals and urgent care centres at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly.
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Giving levels
Companies are invited to take part in the Save a Smile appeal, with donations welcome from €1,000 to €10,000+.
- Kind smiles – €1,000
- Caring smiles – €2,500
- Joyful smiles – €5,000
- Magical smiles – €10,000
Your support helps children like Harry, who spent his very first Christmas in hospital, fighting for his life.
Harry’s mum, Leanne, remembers that Christmas vividly: “I’ll never forget Harry’s first Christmas. Instead of being at home with his four big brothers and sisters, our tiny baby boy — only a few months old — was in hospital surrounded by machines and wires. My husband Keith and I were terrified of what the future might hold. Nothing prepares you for that level of worry.”
Leanne describes how donor support made all the difference: “Your generosity provides world-class medical care, but also the ‘extras’ — play, music and family support — that make the hardest days a little easier. These are the things that remind children they are still children and remind parents that we’re not alone. Throughout Harry’s journey, we have been so thankful for the way he is treated as more than just a patient. The doctors and nurses are incredible, but it’s those extras that have made such a difference and helped him smile. Harry is nine now. He is funny, sensitive, and overflowing with imagination. He loves Minecraft, Roblox and his Dog Man books.”
Illness and injury don’t take a break for Christmas. Harry may be spending the festive season at home, but there are hundreds of other children with serious medical needs who may not be. For them, and for their loved ones, the medical teams in Children’s Health Ireland will be doing all they can, through Christmas and on into the new year, to ensure every sick child like Harry gets every chance.
“The compassionate companies who stand with us at Christmas are an essential part of our work. This Christmas, we are asking businesses to help us be there for sick children every single day — and wherever possible, to help get them home for Christmas. Every life-changing moment is made possible by the support we receive during the festive season,” says Rosemary Simmons, director of development at Children’s Health Foundation.
Last year, we invested € 1.6 million in more than 25 groundbreaking research initiatives designed to improve patient outcomes across all Children’s Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres. From supporting new discoveries to sustaining ongoing research, these efforts are driving meaningful improvements in care and service delivery across all Children’s Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres.
To learn more or to pledge your support email corporate@childrenshealth.ie or call (01) 709 1700. Further details — including donation levels and thank-you benefits — can be found at childrenshealth.ie/christmas-smiles.
