Every week, a Happy Wheels cart visits every room in South Carolina’s three children’s hospitals — one week it bears books, the next toys.
It is the life’s work of Lexington’s Tracey Rankin, who was recently named one of five Southerners of The Year by Southern Living.
“I was shocked,” Rankin said in a phone interview Monday.
She said it came about when she was nominated by the sister of a friend who is also an anchor of Good Morning America. The awards were announced on a segment of the show last week.
Rankin started the nonprofit 15 years ago after seeing a similar program at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital. She formed a nonprofit and started one at Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia and Greenville Memorial Children’s Hospital. Now all three are under her direction.
“When we knock on their door, they don’t really know who’s knocking and they’re skeptical,” Rankin said. So much pain comes through the door for them.
But then they see the cart.