ORLANDO, Fla. — As families across Central Florida prepare to celebrate the holiday season by wrapping gifts and spending time together, many children are spending Christmas in a very different setting — a hospital room.

What You Need To Know

Lily’s Warrior Project is a nonprofit organization that helps provide hygiene packets, playtime fun, and resources for children and their families receiving cancer treatment at local pediatric hospitals
Founder and President Laura Moa said many of the children her organization serves have delicate diagnoses and uncertain timelines, making it especially important to bring comfort during the holidays

The organization has about 13 collection boxes in locations throughout Central Florida and also offers an Amazon wishlist to help with donations

For pediatric patients battling serious illnesses, the holidays can feel especially difficult. Central Florida nonprofit Lily’s Warrior Project is working to make sure children at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children wake up to Christmas cheer and toys.

With just three days left until Christmas, Laura Moa and volunteers with the organization were busy sorting through donation boxes as part of its annual toy drive.

Moa, the founder and president of Lily’s Warrior Project, said the organization was born out of a need she witnessed firsthand.

“We focused on this need that we were observing within the hospital system where we were seeing that there were pediatric patients that needed more access to play therapy,” Moa said. “And during that time, my daughter Lily was diagnosed with a kidney cancer.”

What began as a grassroots effort in Moa’s living room — assembling care packages with hygiene essentials for families staying in the hospital — has grown into a large-scale nonprofit serving pediatric patients across Central Florida.

Each year, Lily’s Warrior Project hosts a Christmas toy drive to collect toys and donations for children battling cancer at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando.

“They will wake up Christmas Day to those presents, and it’s very meaningful. We have stayed many years in the hospital and during times like a seasonal Christmas time, it matters so much,” Moa said.

Many of the children they serve have delicate diagnoses and uncertain timelines, making it especially important to bring comfort during the holidays, Moa said.

“Our community partners will work together and provide toys,” she said. “They’ll drop off different play therapy items, and each of our boxes are labeled with specifications from the hospital.”

The organization holds two toy drives each year — one in December and another in July.

“It is a critical timeline for many pediatric patients, so that Christmas in July is able to support a timeline when a pediatric patient may not unfortunately make it to Christmas,” Moa said.

Community members can donate pre-packaged, unwrapped toys for children of all ages, from newborns to teenagers. Collection sites include local businesses, such as the Florida Defense Team law office in downtown Orlando.

“My daughter interacted with Lily, and we went to the hospital, and I just saw their heart not only for her, but the community and other people going through this,” said Lisa Figueroa, a board-certified criminal defense attorney and founder of Florida Defense Team.

Lily’s Warrior Project has more than a dozen collection boxes in locations throughout Central Florida.

“It’s really drawing a lot of attention,” Figueroa said. “So, I think it’s great that it’s there because not only people that share office space with us, but our clients and their families, and they get to see. We also post it in our social media pages.” 

So far this year, the organization has collected more than 1,000 toys. Moa said over the years, Lily’s Warrior Project has distributed more than 25,000 toys to pediatric patients.

“I’m so grateful and I know that Lily took pride in working on our initiative,” Moa said. “She enjoyed collecting the toys. She enjoyed sharing with her hospital friends, and I know that she’s proud of our work.”

After collecting the final donation box, volunteers loaded the toys into trucks to prepare for delivery to the hospital. In Moa’s garage, toys filled the space — all ready to be delivered with the goal of bringing smiles to hundreds of children.

“It’s emotional,” she said. “We always cry. We give each other a big hug, especially when we do that drop-off and to see our friends there at the hospital and knowing that they can count on us and we’re able to count on our community is, it’s just a special feeling.”

Moa said Lily’s legacy continues to inspire the organization’s mission to support families during some of their most difficult moments.

For more information about Lily’s Warrior Project, visit the nonprofit’s website.