I’d like to take a break from our regular Trade Show Tuesday posts to spotlight a LockNet employee who has touched the hearts of 180 sick children – yes, you read that right, 180 children.

Lena Thornton (on left), veteran Technical Service Representative, started Caps for Carlie with her friend Tonya Bruner in mid-February.  One of Tonya’s close friends is a sweet little eight-year-old girl who is battling bone cancer.

Seeing a loved one, especially one so young, battle cancer is enough to spur anyone into action.  Tonya saw the pain that Carlie was in and knew that she had to do something to help.

Caps for Carlie is Born

Many of the children have to undergo chemotherapy, which causes them to lose their hair.  Tonya quickly learned children generally prefer hats to wigs, so she set out on a mission to collect hats for Carlie and the other children in the cancer ward.  Thus the informal Caps for Carlie charity was born.

Lena and Tonya reached out to everyone they knew and were able to gather 180 caps and t-shirts for children ages 0-13+.

Before the drop-off at the hospital, they had the opportunity to go visit Carlie.  Lena braced herself for the worst, but when she walked through the door she was greeted by two happy little girls playing Legos.  Thankfully Carlie was having a good day.  Had it not been for Carlie’s appearance and some clues around the house (copious amounts of hand sanitizer and a hospital bed), you wouldn’t have known that Carlie was sick.

Like a child on Christmas morning, Carlie tore into her bag of gifts and admired each item she was given – her favorite was a video game that she had been wanting for quite some time.

They had the same rewarding experience two Saturdays ago when they loaded up all of the shirts and hats and delivered them to the UK Children’s Hospital.  They saw a bunch of faces light up as they selected their hats – Lena said she knew all the effort was worth it as soon as she saw the first little girl crack a big smile.

There were only 40 patients in the ward, meaning that they were able to leave the remaining hats and shirts with the hospital to brighten the day of future patients.

Lena said they are taking some time off, but to not be surprised if she’s soon starting up a new collection called Carlie’s Caps, Gently Used Toys, Art Supplies, and Craft Kits.

Hats off to you, Lena – you made a difference for a bunch of sweet kiddos.

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