History

The early 1980s witnessed the rise of philanthropic commitment to

pediatric care. As a pioneer in this humanitarian endeavor, Starlight is
proud to take its place among beloved charities supporting this critical
issue.
Deeply rooted in the entertainment industry, Starlight was founded in
1982 by fourth generation filmmaker Peter Samuelson and his cousin,
actress Emma Samms. When they were young, Emmas little brother
Jamie was diagnosed with aplastic anemia and tragically lost his battle
against the disease.
Years later, Emma visited a young boy named Sean in the hospital who
was seriously ill with a brain tumor. Like many children around the
world, Sean had a dream of going to Disneyland, so Peter and Emma
fulfilled his wish and brought him and his mom from London to Los
Angeles.
Starlight originally launched as a wish granting organization and rapidly
expanded its services to include an extensive menu of unique,
groundbreaking and trendsetting family-centered programs. Starlight has
maintained its leadership in helping families with hospitalized children
cope with the challenges of a medical journey through programs such as
Starbright World, the first-ever online social network for teens with
chronic and life-threatening medical conditions and their siblings, and the
newly debuted Starlight Wish Lists, a cutting edge technology platform
that enables donors to fill specific unmet hospital needs directly and
efficiently.
For more than 30 years, Starlight has been a leading global charity
improving the life and health of kids and families. They partner with
experts and innovators in healthcare, entertainment and technology to
create a unique blend of family-centered services from hospital to home.
Today, Starlight partners with more than 1,750 healthcare facilities and
major pediatric hospitals around the world, serving millions of children
every year.
Mission
When a once-bright life becomes dulled by needles, hospital visits and
painful treatments, Starlight helps sick kids forget their illness and rediscover the joy of childhood.
They know theres more to treatment than medicine. Thats why since
1988, theyve partnered with health professionals to develop programs
based on positive psychology principals that support the total care of
children and teens.
They have conscience what kids and their families are facing when
serious illness or injury consumes their lives.

This organization disrupts the relentless cycle of pain and trauma and
offers a welcome break so that sick kids can simply be kids.
They believe fun fights fear and wins every time.

The Starlight Wish List platform is the worlds first online giving
marketplace that transforms the way individual philanthropists and
corporations at every level of giving improve the point-of-care experience
for pediatric patients all around of which respective country.
Registered Starlight partner facilities including hospitals, clinics, respite
houses, hospices and camps can publish a customized Wish List of
critical unmet needs, requesting Starlights proprietary programs or other
items that will improve the life and health of the kids and families they
serve. The program is available to charitable hospital foundations and
non-profit or public pediatric facilities in EUA and Puerto Rico.
Individual donors can search by geographic location, facility name or
specialty served, and simply point, click and ship items directly to their
facility of choice, making it easy to donate to any registered facility. All
Starlight Wish List donations are timely, transparent and tangible with
100% of each donation directly funding items specifically requested by
the facility. Donors receive a tax receipt for their entire contribution.
Additionally, corporations can make large quantity product donations to
support registered facilities on a local, regional or national level. Since
the program launched in July 2013, individuals and corporations have
donated more than $300,000 in support of pediatric patients and their
families.