CLEVELAND (NNS) -- Navy Sailors visited a Cleveland hospital and brought smiles and Navy ball caps to children and their families Sept. 1 as part of Cleveland Navy Week.
Rear Adm. Julius S. Caesar, Navy Week guest of honor and his staff were invited to tour the Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. Navy personnel chatted informally with the young patients while creating crafts and sharing stories throughout the morning.
Afterward, hospital staff led the Navy visitors through the hospital to visit youth who were too sick to leave their rooms. Caesar stopped into patient rooms to meet the children and their families who were room-bound, offering encouragement for their quick recovery and handing out official Navy ball caps that had been donated by Navy ships and squadrons from throughout the fleet.
"We were honored to interact with Admiral Julius Caesar and his staff," said MaryAnn Dragon, the director of the hospital's patient and family services. "The event was a great success with a non-stop crowd participating in the nautical crafts and enjoying the Navy mementos."
"This has been a truly rewarding experience," said Cmdr. Wade R. Mikulla, commanding officer of Navy Operational Support Center in Akron, Ohio. "It's something that not only do we feel good giving back in any way, shape or form that we can, but we walk out of here with a smile and a warm heart that these children put on our faces. To me, it just doesn't get any better than this."
The Caps for Kids community relations event was part of Cleveland Navy Week, one of 19 Navy Weeks held across America in 2010. During the week, Sailors volunteered for a variety of community relations projects, appeared on several television programs, attended meetings with local business and community leaders, and volunteered for a variety of community outreach projects.
Cleveland Navy Week concludes this weekend with the Cleveland National Air Show Sept. 4-6.
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