City skyline blinks in nightly ritual to cheer up sick kids

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – For one sparkling minute each night, blinking lights from skyscrapers, tugboats, hotels, a yacht club and police cruisers send a goodnight message to sick kids inside a children’s hospital.

A gesture that began with a single bike light cheering up a patient six years ago has become a nightly ritual in Providence, Rhode Island.

Giddy kids inside the Hasbro Children’s Hospital wait for 8:30 p.m. each night, when strangers flash lights from high-rise buildings and waterfront decks and parks. The kids get their own flashlights to return the message.

The hospital’s resident cartoonist, Steve Brosnihan, started the phenomenon, known as Good Night Lights, and keeps expanding it by inviting more businesses and other groups to join the display.

Some bigger buildings now have automatic signs to display messages each night.

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