At Children’s Hospital, a Note with Lunch
Patients at Children’s Hospital of Alabama now get a little extra pick-me-up. Every day, kids there receive a note with their lunches. These notes are called napkinisms. The project sprung from a local writer, who spent years writing lunchbox notes for his own children.
Just about every morning, Billy Ivey hand-writes a note for each one of his five kids. Using a Sharpie, he scribbles down a witty joke or a simple “I love you” on a paper towel. Then he adds it to their school lunch. Ivey’s been doing that for over a decade.
“Couple years ago,” Ivey says. “I wrote a note that I thought was particularly funny and I took a picture of it.”
Billy Ivey
For over a decade, Billy Ivey has been hand-writing notes for his kids’ lunches.
Ivey posted the picture to social media.
“It said, ‘Remember, every time you smile, a mean kid gets diarrhea.’ And people, again, people couldn’t believe that I would write something like that to my kid, but the purpose of it was to make my kids laugh, to surprise them with something in the middle of their day.”
That idea resonated with people. Ivey started calling the notes “napkinisms.” He created a website and has a dedicated following on social media. Starting this year, kids at Children’s Hospital of Alabama are getting their own napkinisms. Every day, patients receive one of Ivey’s notes, printed onto postcards and passed out at lunchtime.
Six-year-old patient Blaklee Tew enjoys it. He picks up one of the napkinisms and reads it aloud.
“Potato chips are vegetables,” Tew reads. “Just go with it.”
Tew laughs, because he says potato chips do not count as vegetables.
Garland Stansell, head of communications for Children’s Hospital, helped launch the napkinisms partnership. He says the idea is simple.
“That somebody wrote a personal message, somebody’s thinking about you,” Stansell says. “Somebody cares that you’re here.”
And it never hurts to make a patient smile. Stansell says napkinisms is set to continue indefinitely, with plans to give staff the opportunity to write their own notes for the kids.
Outside of the hospital, anyone can join in and submit an idea on the napkinisms website. Billy Ivey says just a few words can go a long way.
“That’s where the power of this comes, you know,” Ivey says. “It’s not my responsibility to change the world or change somebody’s life, but I do have an opportunity to change somebody’s day, on a daily basis.”
Ivey says since starting the program at Children’s Hospital, there’s been an increase in public submissions on the napkinisms website. He says some of those notes may eventually wind up on patient lunch trays.
Preparations begin to ramp up aid in Gaza as ceasefire brings hope for end to 2-year war
Preparations were also underway Sunday for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Hollywood’s quirky leading lady, Diane Keaton, dies aged 79
Diane Keaton, who remained one of Hollywood's quirkiest and most beloved actors decades after her Academy Award-winning performance in the movie Annie Hall, has died aged 79.
16 people died in a blast at a Tennessee explosives factory early Friday, sheriff says
A blast in rural Tennessee that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around killed 16 people and left no survivors, authorities said.
Diane Keaton, Oscar-winning star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘The Godfather,’ dies at 79
The actor, known for her quirky, vibrant manner and depth was 79. Across her decades-long career, she worked with prominent filmmakers including Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen and Nancy Meyers.
Trump slashes mental health agency as shutdown drags on
Sources tell NPR that more than 100 employees have been laid off at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had some cuts reversed late Saturday.
Nobel Prize winner Machado says Venezuela is in ‘chaos’ under current regime
The far-right leader of Venezuela's opposition party said that the current president is illegitimate and called for his removal.
