At Twipes, we are committed to our charitable partnerships and know the importance of giving back to the community. Our mission is planet-focused, and in helping the ecosystem of our planet, we also look out for those inhabiting it. Recently, we got in touch with Buffalo-based charity Riley’s Warriors, which provides gifts and morale to make kids in local hospitals feel more at home at the holiday season.
Riley’s Warriors was founded in 2023 by Riley Greene, who was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma in July 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic at the age of 12. At 15, Riley wanted to help out kids like him who were hospitalized at Christmastime, his favorite time of the year.
“Riley knows firsthand that being in the hospital during holiday time is really depressing,” Riley’s mom Kellee said. “The hospitals are pretty sterile, so these holiday room decorating bags give the kids a sense of home. We’ve gotten feedback from several parents where their kids won’t get out of bed for several days and then our bags come and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is awesome, I get to get up and decorate my room for the holidays.’ So that is a huge impact, I feel like we’re doing some good there.”
A big part of what inspired Riley was when his dad, Brock, decorated his hospital room with holiday lights just before Christmas when Riley was at a low point mentally. Riley was out before Christmas, but realized some kids didn’t have the same experience. The following two years, he brought over 100 bags of “A Little Piece of Home Lighting the Way” to brighten the dreary and sterile hospital rooms of other kids ahead of the holiday season. This led to the establishment of the nonprofit last holiday season.
In addition to the lights, Kellee said recipients of the bags enjoy other treats included in the donations, specifically kids on chemo or who have underwent other procedures who don’t have an appetite for hospital food.
“Overall, the child life specialists and social workers at the hospital love when we do this, because they know it’s a struggle for the kids, especially during holiday time, to be stuck in the hospital,” she said. “So this is like a little pick-me-up for them, and sometimes it even gets them up and out of bed to go home like it did for Riley.”
This year, the bags will include packs of Twipes, as after meeting the Twipes team at a Buffalo Bisons game this summer, Riley thought they would be a great addition for pediatric cancer patients in particular.
“The chemo does terrible things to your body, so he was like, ‘These would be awesome to put in the bags for the kids,'” Kellee recalled. This led to Riley reaching out to Twipes about a collaboration.
Riley told the Twipes team that it makes him feel good to provide the experience he received to other kids in the hospital.
“Riley really loves holiday lights, so that was the first driving force, like, ‘Okay, let’s collect lights,’ and it just kind of grew from there,” Kellee said. “So we include holiday light strands, the Command strips to hang them, little mini Christmas trees, a wreath to hang on their door, a door cover to put on their door, window decals for their windows, we have given out fake fireplaces, stockings stuffed with candy and gift cards, we get sponsors to sponsor bags and they will include some Buffalo Bills swag or Sabres swag or Lego kits or some sort of toy. Anything you can imagine you’d decorate with in your home probably goes in the bag.”
She said that if anyone is interested in sponsoring a bag or contributing items for children in the hospital, to reach out via rileyswarriors@gmail.com or via the Riley’s Warriors Instagram or Facebook pages. Donations can also be made via Venmo or PayPal on the Riley’s Warriors website.
Riley’s mission also includes scholarship opportunities for other high schoolers who have battled life-threatening illnesses.
Currently, the Riley’s Warriors operation is very small, but is looking to grow, including providing pick-me-ups for kids throughout the year — be it gas cards or gift cards for groceries to help pediatric patients and their families, who often struggle financially due to medical costs.
