Recently, Jerilyn Dupuis, our Woodstock school bus Branch Manager, shared a story about her two brave young children who are battling a rare genetic disease but are focused on making long stays at Boston Children’s Hospital a little easier for their peers.
Zoie (8) and Jacoby (5) both have Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, which affects one in every 6,000 people. The disease causes tumors to form in the vital organs of the body, and both kids have formed them in their brain, heart, and kidneys. After countless, long-term visits to Boston Children’s Hospital for care, Zoie decided she wanted to help other patients like her and her little brother, so she started the “Two Siblings Challenge TSC,” with the mission of collecting craft items for kids to use at the facility. The long hospital stays can be stressful (and
boring, says Zoie!) for children; the items collected through the challenge can help keep kids occupied.
In 2017, Zoie and Jacoby collected and donated 983 items. Their wish for 2018 was to exceed that number, and that they did! To date, 2,241 items have been collected, with more coming in. The DATTCO family pulled together to help them reach their goal. Upon learning of Zoie setting up a collection booth at Pascoag, RI’s annual Victorian Holiday event, DATTCO’s Kevin DeVivo led an internal collection effort among employees in New Britain (where DATTCO’s corporate headquarters are located) and in less than a week, 425 items were donated.
In an email from Kevin, he thanks the employees for pulling together to support one of their own:
Mission accomplished everybody! I can’t describe how grateful Jerilyn and Matt (her husband) were 
or how excited Zoie and Jacoby were upon seeing all the gifts that you donated. In the end our final count was 425 items. That’s pretty dang good for less than a week’s notice. Thank you all so much for your support in this cause. My dad, brother and I got to experience a really cool moment with a grateful family. All the credit belongs to you, though, for how you stepped up.
We are so impressed with Zoie and Jacoby for keeping this momentum going for the last two years and making it bigger and better this year! We wish them a very merry Christmas, a healthy and happy New Year, and continued success with the Two Siblings Challenge!