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Sarah Strode — The Kind 50

Two women in baseball caps smile together in a selfie in front of a purple wall.

softening the hard days

Sarah Strode’s daughter Addie was 4 years old when she was severely burned in a campfire accident. She spent 48 days in the burn ICU at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

A girl sits on the floor beside boxes of plush toys and stacked cans of coffee.

The accident happened on July 2, 2011. For years, Sarah and her family didn’t know what to do when July 2 came around.

Then in 2015, they found a way to give the day new meaning.

A round yellow and black bumblebee Pillow Pet with a smiling face.

a hard day became a way to help

A smiling woman sits on a wooden floor in front of a huge pile of plush toys.

Sarah and her family began returning to Harborview every
July 2 to give back to the hospital that cared for Addie.
With money raised through GoFundMe, they buy Pillow
Pets for pediatric burn survivors and food and coffee for
hospital staff.

Volunteers carry cardboard boxes of supplies from a car along a city sidewalk.

The idea for the Pillow Pets came from Addie’s own experience. During her 48 days at Harborview, her bumblebee Pillow Pet brought her comfort through multiple surgeries and skin grafts.

A white unicorn Pillow Pet with a rainbow horn, mane and tail.
$60Renada and Matias
Thank you!!!
$60Doggy and Unicorn Pillow Pets
Thank you!!!
$30Sandstrom Family
Thank you for the cow!!! Praying for Jacob and healing.
$30Lesley Robinett
Thank you!!!
Volunteers wheel carts of donated supplies along a city sidewalk under a tree.

$45k+

raised

More than a decade later, the tradition is still going strong. By 2023, the Strodes had raised more than $45,000.

Bring comfort to a child

Start a GoFundMe
A tall stack of eleven Pillow Pets: a bumblebee on a penguin on an elephant, with a unicorn, a panda and a cow at the base.