‘The Wave’ tradition spreads to Florida, raises kids’ spirits in hospital

An Iowa football tradition has made its way to Florida. The Wave has been a popular part of Hawkeye home games since 2017, when fans and players turn to UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the end of the first quarter and wave to children who are patients there.

Kimberly Stevens, founder and Daniel Thomas, co-chair of Extend the Wave spoke with Our Quad Cities News via Zoom about how they’re taking an Iowa Hawkeye tradition to new fans at AdventHealth for Children in Orlando.

“Extend the Wave was born out of an act of gratitude, truthfully,” said Stevens. “My daughter, who was not supposed to live even a week when she was born in 1993, was cured with a liver transplant in 1997. We spent four years in the hospital in and out, in crisis. We were in Life Flight helicopters; she was in comas multiple times and her prognosis was not good. Miraculously, last year she turned 30. She is amazing; you would never know that any of those issues plagued her as a young child and baby.”

Stevens was moved to do something to show her gratitude. “When she was turning 30, I wanted to do something to say thank you for her life. Extending the Wave to children and families who are currently in the hospital and going through that seemed like the most amazing way to say thank you to God and to the world for the gift that we’ve been given.”

The Extend the Wave website has the entire day’s schedule, including visits with Golden Retrievers, a tailgate lunch, face painting and gametime pizza.

The party started earlier this week for the kids, said Thomas. “Yesterday was our first day of gifts. It’s the first time that a lot of these families have heard of the Iowa football, or they’ve heard of the Wave at all.” Even if the kids aren’t football fans, the game is still a source of fun and inspiration. “I spent some time with my family there (in the hospital) when I was younger. It’s challenging to find things to look to for hope, so you know seeing that (the Wave) and seeing their faces, ‘we have something to look forward to this weekend.’”

“We have four days at the hospital this week and each day is leading up to Saturday, the big event,” said Stevens. “Each day we are visiting the hospital with small little gifts; yesterday we took Panera gift cards and some football stress balls that say, ‘Never Give Up.” Today we’ll be back with some crazy straws and some other gifts and Friday we’ll be back with Extend the Wave t-shirts for everyone.”

The event is only in Orlando, but there are plans to extend their reach into other cities. “Our goal is to expand into 10 cities over time,” said Stevens. “This year what we’re doing is we picked an early game so that we can connect people through our socials to every upcoming home game this season.”

A special playlist is helping get fans and patients in the mood for the big game, said Thomas. “She’s put together a playlist on Spotify too of all the past songs that have been played during the Wave. The songs that they play are very inspiring so just listening to that playlist, it’s just a good opportunity to reflect and feel the love because you can think about all the Waves that have been accompanied by those songs over the weeks and years.”

The group is collecting donations to buy small gifts for the children during events. “The best way for people to get involved is simply to watch the Wave as it is occurring,” said Stevens. “They can donate at the website, they can follow us on Instagram and count down and connect to the love, the hope and the inspiration that the Wave represents.”

“On Saturday, we’re going to be having all the families out to the Family Resource Center in the hospital,” she said. “There’s going to be Golden Retrievers, different comfort dogs. We’re going to be giving them a whole goodie bag of gifts that day and we’ll have a face painter. It’ll really just be a great time for these kids and their families to come step away. It’s the closest thing you can get to a tailgate within a hospital but that’s what we’re trying to bring to them, bring experience of the Iowa way and the Iowa football game right to the hospital.”

“The goal of this week is to give each and every person we engage with a moment, whether it’s on Tuesday or on Saturday to know they are loved and supported and seen and to feel inspired and feel peace.”

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