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Flickering Coastal Lights Bid Good Night to Kids at Children's Hospital (WATCH)

Flickering Coastal Lights Bid Good Night to Kids at Children's Hospital (WATCH)
Every night at 8:30PM, business signs and flashlights start to blink as a sparkling goodbye to the sickly children watching from the hospital windows.

Every night for the last six years, the city of Providence has given a sparkling good night show of hope to the kids who might not have any.

At 8:30PM each evening, yacht clubs, hotels, restaurants, tugboats, and police cruisers participate in the Good Night Lights display by flickering their lights on and off for the Hasbro Children's Hospital.

The sick kids and toddlers in hospice care say thank you by shining flashlights back out the window to the community below.

The shimmering effect of the nightly ritual has a two-pronged effect: not only does it give Rhode Island residents a chance to cheer up kids they'll never meet, it also makes the patients feel hopeful knowing that their city cares.

Steve Brosnihan, the hospital's cartoonist of 26 years, got the idea when he was biking home from the building and started flashing personalized messages with his lights to the children in the windows.

He then started recruiting businesses and volunteers to participate in the daily magic minute.

"The first time a kid sees this, when it happens, they're like, ‘Are you kidding? That's for me?' There's a joyful surprise in it," Brosnihan told WBZ. "No one knows who's on the other side of the gesture. "People often say, ‘I get goosebumps hearing about this.'"

(WATCH the video below)

 

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