Birthday Gifts Bring Smiles to AAMC Donors and Patients

At age 75, Anne Arundel Medical Center Foundation Board Member Anthony Izzo has everything he could hope for: a wonderful wife, a healthy family and four grown grandsons. When friends and family asked his wife Angelina for Anthony’s birthday wish list last year, she decided to surprise him with an idea that aligned with his passion for supporting the community.

Instead of gifts for Anthony, Angelina asked party guests to bring new toys to be donated to AAMC’s Pediatric Emergency Department. His friends and family were excited to oblige, bringing several thousand dollars’ worth of new toys.

“People get to a certain point in life where they no longer need anything,” says Angelina. “We were hoping it would inspire others to do something like this in the future. We were incredibly surprised by the generosity of our friends.”

The gifts were shared among AAMC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit–Teddy’s Place, the Geaton and JoAnn DeCesaris Family Foundation Pediatric Inpatient and Emergency Center, the Thomas J. Frank Family Birth Center and the Hackerman-Patz House. The toys were given to pediatric patients and their siblings to help relieve the stress of a hospital visit during the holidays and to play with during treatment.