Comicbooks for Kids

There are many facets for making this happen.<br/><br/>First, we are working on behalf of the overall comic book industry and all of the incredible people within it. To make this all come together, it needs to include distribution, retailers, publishers and the wonderful customers who buy the comic books. In 2017, and as noted on our website, we are working with the main distributor (Diamond) and almost every publisher in the industry's top ten. In 2018, we started adding brick-and-mortar retailers who are now working closely with us as well.<br/><br/>Second, it requires working closely with the hospitals. ComicBooks For Kids! reaches out individually to each and every hospital and tailors their comic delivery to the demographics that the Child Life departments need. Everything is packed tightly with a professional cover letter denoting what is being sent. Constant contact exists on a recurring basis with these hospitals.<br/><br/>ComicBooks For Kids! then acts as a hub connecting the comics we receive with the kids across the country who need them. Not all hospitals are the same and the demands of no two hospitals are the same. Yet because we tailor each and every shipment, we can meet their needs of each hospital individually.

We have the capacity and talent to exceed our goals. <br/><br/>We were incorporated in May of 2017. At that time we gave ourselves a goal of providing 1,000 comic books to 20 hospitals across the US and to work with two comic book publishers.<br/><br/>As we closed out 2017, we had shipped out and delivered over 8,000 comic books to over 100 hospitals in almost every state of this country. Further, we also reached into Canada; our website shows the stories of how we have impacted children in a positive way across North America.<br/><br/>As we expand into 2018 and beyond, we will be enhancing our Board of Directors with industry insiders and volunteer support to allow us greater reach to not only achieve our goals but to exceed them.

Perhaps the best indicator of progress is hearing from the hospitals we support. The following email was received by us in early 2018 from the Child Life department at UF Health Shands Children's Hospital in Florida.<br/><br/>"I just wanted to send a quick thank you email for the comic books we received. I cannot tell you how grateful our program is for receiving this package as it was suitable for various ages and provided a fun and therapeutic activity for patients and families during their hospitalization. I know that I have used this on my pediatric floor with children who are waiting for a procedure or surgery and have had success in distracting and redirecting their attention with these books to alleviate anticipatory stress and anxiety. I have used this with long term teens who can be hard to engage with and have built great rapport with them over the characters and story line – I have even created bedside activities with some patients where it inspired them to make their own comic book!<br/><br/>I surely appreciate all that you and ComicBooks for Kids does. Thank you again."<br/><br/>Further our website has a COMMUNITY tab. It lists letters and has stories and pictures from from nurses, children, Child Life staff and others. The feedback is real and tangible.

As mentioned above, we exceeded our 2017 goal by a significant margin. Our goal for 2018 is to exceed those targets and to focus on our new initiatives. This includes:<br/><br/>* Expanding from children's hospitals to all hospitals with a pediatric wing<br/>* Expanding hospital libraries with graphic novels<br/>* Bringing foreign language comics to the kids across the US in hospitals<br/>* Supporting the community including teachers and promoting literacy<br/>* Supporting our military by donating comics with more mature themes