Kayla Cares 4 Kids

Since 2013, Kayla Cares 4 Kids has supported chronically ill children to learn, play and grow, both in and out of the hospital. 

With more than 50,000 items collected and donated to date, our vision is to entertain and educate children suffering from chronic illness, enabling them to thrive in all aspects of their life. We want to be an ongoing support system for children and their families by providing positive distractions and social interactions.

Kayla Abramowitz, the Founder and CKO (Chief Kid Officer) of Kayla Cares 4 Kids, began the organization at age 11, by collecting entertainment and educational items to donate to children’s hospitals in an 

effort to help children feel better. The now 22-year-old came up with the idea after extended hospital stays of her own, in addition to her younger brother Ethan’s numerous hospital trips, due to chronic illness. Kayla has Crohn’s Disease, Juvenile Arthritis and Eosinophilic Colitis. Ethan has Juvenile Arthritis and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

She named the project “Kayla Cares 4 Kids,” enlisting the help of her family. Her initial goal was to collect 100 DVDs to donate to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, until a newspaper article about her in The Palm Beach Post brought in an overwhelming response of donations. She has now completed two playroom makeovers, created a LAPtop Program (Learning and Playing) and delivered items to every children’s hospital and Ronald McDonald House in the United States, plus facilities in Quebec, Jamaica and South Africa!

“I was looking through our DVDs and saw some ‘Thomas the Train’ movies. I thought, we don’t watch these anymore, so maybe we could give them to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. I asked my mom about it and she said that was a great idea!”

For her efforts, Kayla was named "National Young Entrepreneur of the Year," and featured on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" and "NBC Nightly News" (as seen below)....