A nightly tradition brings light and hope to children at Michigan
hospital
[December 17, 2025]
By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Volunteers gripping flashlights waved them high
above their heads when the clock struck 8 p.m., shining beams through
the frigid night sky — and into the hospital's windows.
Exactly 10 minutes later, the enthusiastic crowd, still holding their
flashlights aloft, in unison hollered “sweet dreams” toward children in
the hospital several stories above them.
The nightly Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams tradition is again lighting up
the night outside Corewell Health Children’s hospital in Royal Oak in
suburban Detroit.
For 10 minutes each evening, volunteers standing outside the hospital
shine flashlights toward the pediatric rooms above, delivering a message
of hope and joy. The kids return the sentiment with their own lights,
which they shine toward those below.
“To be stuck in the hospital and feel like the world is moving on
without you outside feels a little bit isolating, a little lonely, feels
like maybe you’ve been forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the holiday
season,” said Amanda Lefkof, a child life specialist at Corewell.
Among the children in the hospital is 4-year-old Zoe Hostetter, who is
undergoing chemotherapy treatments. On a recent night, she shone her own
flashlight toward the bundled-up well-wishers below with her
grandfather, Tim Schuele, by her side.
“It’s just a big group of people that they don’t know, but they see the
love being sent by the lights,” he said. “They’re here kind of by
themselves or with just close family and that’s it for days.”
On these nights, though, the children are far from alone.
Kevin Barringer was among those flashing lights toward the windows one
night last week. Barringer's son, Connor, spent two months at the
hospital in 2020 recovering from a spinal injury, and they were on the
receiving end of the lights.
“It gets pretty dark up there for the kids and for parents as well,”
Kevin Barringer said. “Having people down here letting them up there
know that there are people with them and sending all their light up that
way, it means a lot.”
Stephanie McMillan, sitting in a darkened room, held her 3-month
daughter, Wren, in one arm and a flashlight in the other, shooting a
beam in the direction of those gathered below.
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Lisa Muma, one of the organizers of Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams,
shines a light up into the pediatric wing of Corewell Health
Children's during an event Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Royal Oak,
Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
 “It helps the people inside here not
feel so alone and the community members being able to be a part of
bringing that Christmas joy to the people that are in here,”
McMillan said.
The hospital also hosts holiday parties, blanket-making and
storytime events for families. Plus, a volunteer dresses as Santa
and visits patients in their rooms and at the parties.
Corewell has been overseeing the Moonbeams event since 2017. This
year's edition started Dec. 9, and runs through Hanukkah and every
night until two days before Christmas.
Participants this year have included groups of high school students,
Scout troops and sororities, said Lisa Muma, a registered nurse and
one of the event’s organizers. Sports teams often join, including a
youth hockey squad who showed up with lights affixed to their
sticks.
Anywhere from dozens to hundreds of people gather nightly, depending
on the day of the week and the weather.
“We really wanted to come up with a way where we could remind the
families and the kids and the patients in the hospital that we’re
still thinking of them, that we’re here for them, that we’re
standing with them,” Lefkof said. In turn, the pediatric section of
the hospital feels a bit like Las Vegas, where “the days and the
nights kind of blend together.”
But the Moonbeams event gives the children something to look forward
to during a difficult time for many families.
“This is a wonderful way … to really offer them a lot of love when
they’re going through a hard time,” she said.
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