Student-run nonprofit campaign · York County, PA · Sponsored by Epilepsy Association of Western and Central Pennsylvania (EAWCP)
66York County elementary schools reached
200Book campaign goal
Oct. 2025Founded by a student with epilepsy
Healing began with a teddy bear.
Every child deserves more than a diagnosis.
At three years old, Brooke Shupp entered the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit scared. One nurse handed her a stuffed bear. That single act of compassion became Pages of Purple.
Founded by that same kid—now a student advocate living with epilepsy—Pages of Purple provides books, comfort, and connection to children navigating epilepsy, so they feel seen, understood, and never alone.
Started by the kid who needed it
Brooke knows this experience firsthand—years of seizures, three brain surgeries, and now a plan to become a pediatric neurology nurse.
The bear who started everything
Meet Seizure Bear
The bear Brooke received during her first epilepsy hospitalization became her constant companion through three brain surgeries, years of seizures, vision loss, and recovery.
Today he is the inspiration behind every Pages of Purple project. He is the reason this campaign sends books and comfort instead of brochures: because the thing Brooke remembers from that hospital room is not a pamphlet. It is a bear, and the nurse who thought to hand it to her.
- He has traveled to every surgery.
- He shows up in hospital photos taken years apart—same bear, same spot beside her.
- He never got a fancier name. He has always just been Seizure Bear.
Her story
Brooke's story, in photographs
Most organizations start with a cause. Pages of Purple starts with a child who grew up to become the person she needed at three years old.
She was three when she was diagnosed with epilepsy. What follows is her hospital story in three pictures, taken years apart in the same monitoring unit—and Seizure Bear is in all of them.
Her first stay in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
“After my first stay in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, I was given a stuffed bear that would become my constant companion.”
Not just a hospital gift
“Seizure Bear wasn't just a hospital gift. He became part of our family.”
Still by her side, years later
“Years later, back in the EMU, Seizure Bear was still by my side while I focused on being a kid again.”
The same hospital unit, the same bear, the same spot beside her—only now she is old enough to spend the stay building LEGO at the tray table. That is the whole point: childhood should continue, even in a hospital room.
The spark
Where Pages of Purple began
At her first EAWCP Walk, Brooke held a human brain and picked up a flyer for an upcoming Room for Friends book event. In that unlikely combination, an idea began to take shape: using books and her own epilepsy story to help other children feel less alone.
That idea became Pages of Purple.
Now she is putting that to work for other kids, so they know they are never defined by their diagnosis.
Who we are
The circle of care
Comfort never stops with the child who receives it. That is the whole idea behind Pages of Purple, and it is why the campaign keeps moving outward.
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A scared child
A frightened three-year-old arrives in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and does not understand what is happening to her.
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Comforted by Seizure Bear
A nurse hands her a stuffed bear. It takes one moment, costs almost nothing, and she never forgets it.
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Learns resilience
Years of seizures, three brain surgeries, vision loss, and recovery—with the same bear beside her for all of it.
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Gives back
She passes that same comfort to another newly diagnosed child, because she knows exactly what that child is feeling.
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Creates Pages of Purple
Inspired by her own experience and a growing connection with the epilepsy community, she turns an idea into a campaign for other kids.
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Helps another child
Every donated book, nurse letter, and classroom program hands that comfort to the next kid, in the next school, in the next waiting room.
And that child grows up knowing someone made them feel understood—which is where the circle starts again.
Comfort given comes back around. Every book you send is the next turn of the circle.
Did you know?
1 in 26people in the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their lifetime.
456,000children in the United States are living with epilepsy right now.
Epilepsy is not rare. Children's books with epilepsy in them are.
That gap is the reason Pages of Purple exists. Kids look for themselves in the books on the shelf, and for a kid with epilepsy that shelf is nearly empty. Every donation puts one more book on it. Fund the next book →
Sources: Epilepsy Foundation lifetime risk estimate; CDC estimate of children under 18 with active epilepsy, 2022.
Why books?
Start with what it feels like to be the only one.
First, what a newly diagnosed kid carries into school on Monday morning.
Children with epilepsy often:
- feel isolated, at school and at home
- have never met another child with epilepsy
- wonder why they are different from everyone else
- hide the diagnosis so nobody treats them differently
Books normalize that experience.
A story does something a pamphlet cannot. When a kid opens a book and finds a character who has seizures too, epilepsy stops being the strange secret that sets them apart. It becomes one ordinary fact about an ordinary kid.
Books get read aloud in classrooms, borrowed from libraries, and carried home. They give classmates the words to ask a kind question, and the kid with epilepsy permission to answer it.
Ways to help
Five ways to keep the circle going
Pick whichever one fits you. Every single one of them ends with a book, a resource, or a bit of comfort in a child's hands.
Donate
$20 puts one copy of Room for Friends into a classroom, library, or pediatric office—one more kid who reads about a character like them. Our goal is 200 books. With all 66 York County elementary schools now reached, donations are helping us expand into libraries, pediatric offices, and classrooms.
Help a Child Feel Less Scared — $20Partner with us
Schools, libraries, pediatric offices, hospitals, and local businesses: sponsor a classroom, a school nurse's shelf, or an entire building, and we will tell you exactly where the books land.
Become a PartnerRequest books
School nurses, teachers, librarians, and pediatric offices can ask for books, printed materials, or an educational event. No cost, ever.
Bring Us to Your SchoolVolunteer
Label books, pack outreach envelopes, or help deliver materials to schools and libraries around York County. Students are welcome.
Volunteer with usShare our mission
The fastest free thing you can do. Send this page to a school nurse, a teacher, or a parent who needs to know we exist.
Or follow and repost us on Instagram at @pagesofpurpleeawcp.
In her own words
Why Brooke started Pages of Purple
“I know what it feels like to be scared after an epilepsy diagnosis. I started Pages of Purple so every child knows they are not alone.”
— Brooke Shupp, founder
What has stayed with Brooke through years of seizures and three brain surgeries isn't only the medical care. It's how people made her feel. That is why she plans to become a pediatric neurology nurse.
About Pages of Purple
A student-run campaign, built from experience
Brooke pitched Pages of Purple in October 2025 to make epilepsy support easier to find, easier to talk about, and easier to bring into a school or a library.
What Pages of Purple is
A student-run epilepsy awareness campaign, sponsored by EAWCP, that puts books and practical resources in schools, libraries, and pediatric offices so kids with epilepsy feel seen instead of singled out.
Pages of Purple provides:
- Epilepsy-inclusive books
- Educational resources for school nurses and staff
- Classroom awareness programs
- Support for children and families after a diagnosis
- Community awareness across York County
Brooke leads the campaign herself, with help from several EAWCP staff members and a few friend volunteers who label the books and pack the materials.
Why these materials work
- Books and discussion guides help kids understand epilepsy in words that are reassuring and age-appropriate.
- School resources help nurses and staff answer questions, talk with students, and point families toward support.
- Working with libraries and pediatric offices gives families a way to find trusted resources before an emergency happens.
Why purple?
The color epilepsy awareness chose, and why it fits us
Purple is the international color of epilepsy awareness, taken from lavender—the flower recognized worldwide as the flower of epilepsy.
Every March 26 is Purple Day, started in 2008 by Cassidy Megan, a nine-year-old in Nova Scotia who wanted other kids with epilepsy to know they were not alone. A kid started it. That is not lost on us.
So we wear purple, we put a purple label in every donated book—applied by hand, one book at a time—and we named the campaign for the pages that carry it: Pages of Purple.
Read the full story behind the color →“My goal is to partner with school nurses, pediatric offices, and libraries so that no kid with epilepsy ever feels as alone at school as I used to.”
— Brooke Shupp, founder
The books and letters we send give kids, classmates, and teachers the words to talk about epilepsy.
How Pages of Purple works
- We help school nurses and staff start age-appropriate conversations with students about epilepsy and the support they need.
- We provide books and materials that help kids feel less alone after a diagnosis.
- We connect families, schools, and pediatric offices to EAWCP's education programs and seizure first aid training.
- We are working toward 200 donated copies of Room for Friends at $20 a book, the $4,000 goal, between January 11, 2026 and January 11, 2027.
- We get more people in York County talking about epilepsy, through outreach, donations, and student advocacy.
Help the next child feel a little less scared.
Your gift helps preserve childhood during one of the hardest days a family will ever experience. Somewhere in York County, another kid is sitting in a neurology clinic hearing the word epilepsy for the first time—your $20 is what greets them afterward.
Our goal is $4,000 by January 11, 2027—200 copies of Room for Friends at $20 a book. That money buys the books, prints the flyers and letters we send to schools, and gets outreach packets into more libraries and pediatric offices across York County.
Donations are processed through OneCause, the third-party fundraising platform EAWCP uses for its own campaigns, so every gift goes to the association directly.
Where your donation goes
| Donation | Impact |
|---|---|
| $20 | A book for a brave childOne copy of Room for Friends |
| $40 | Two chances to make a differenceTwo copies, two kids who stop feeling like the only one |
| $100 | Fill a classroom with understandingFive copies for one classroom and its school nurse |
| $200 | Stock a local library with kindnessTen copies any York County family can borrow free |
| $500 | Support a school's epilepsy awareness efforts25 copies plus the printed nurse and classroom materials that go with them |
| $1,000 | Spread understanding across the county50 copies—a quarter of the entire 200-book goal |
Every tier is counted in books at $20 a copy, which is what a copy of Room for Friends actually costs us. Any amount helps; these are just the milestones.
Campaign impact
What the campaign is building
We work in the four places that shape a kid's week: schools, libraries, pediatric offices, and home.
Resources for school nurses, staff, and classmates, plus help with student support plans.
Donated books any family can borrow, close to home and free to check out.
Awareness materials that support newly diagnosed kids and their parents from the start.
A direct line to epilepsy education, seizure first aid training, and support from EAWCP.
Pages of Purple
A student-run awareness campaign for kids with epilepsy, founded in October 2025 and based in York County, PA.
Our sponsor, EAWCP
Pages of Purple is sponsored by the Epilepsy Association of Western and Central Pennsylvania, which provides epilepsy education programs and support services across the region.
Community events
Team Pages of Purple walked in Harrisburg
On August 1, 2026, Pages of Purple had a team at EAWCP's Epilepsy Walk in Harrisburg, PA, walking alongside families from across the region.
Thank you to everyone who backed our walk team.
Friends, family, and neighbors chipped in to get our team to the starting line, and together they raised over $500 for epilepsy education and support.
The walk raised over $30,000 for EAWCP overall. That money funds the staff trainings, classroom programs, and family support services we point schools and parents toward all year, which is the same work every Pages of Purple donation feeds into.
Pages of Purple in action
Local outreach, week to week
A behind-the-scenes look at the work: labeling books, packing envelopes, and hand-delivering materials across York County.
Programs and resources
What EAWCP offers schools and families
Through EAWCP, school staff and families can get staff training, printed materials, and activities that work in a classroom.
School nurse and staff training
EAWCP runs presentations and staff training sessions on epilepsy, spotting a seizure, seizure first aid, treatment options, and supporting students at school.
- Epilepsy and seizures overview
- School nurse training options
- Help with health plans, 504 plans, and IEPs (Individualized Education Programs)
The Room for Friends program
Room for Friends is a picture book paired with a classroom presentation and an interactive mini escape room activity for grades 3 through 6.
The book itself was created by the Valley Children's Healthcare Epilepsy Support Program. EAWCP sponsors and distributes it locally, and Pages of Purple donations pay for the copies that reach York County.
- Lessons kids take part in, not just listen to
- A Pages of Purple label in every donated copy
- Age-appropriate epilepsy awareness
Family and community support
Parents, teachers, and providers can reach EAWCP directly for materials and wider support for kids living with epilepsy.
- Educational handouts and materials
- Outreach to schools and pediatric offices
- A connection to epilepsy support services
Downloads and guides
Campaign materials ready to share
Download and print these anytime. If you need physical books, printed copies, or help for a specific school, use the request form.
Awareness flyer
A quick campaign overview with goals, donation information, and contact details.
Download flyerPrograms and presentations
Details about Project School Alert and the Room for Friends classroom program.
Download guideSchool nurse resource guide
A practical guide for school nurses: staff training, student education, support planning, and family resources.
View guideLetter to school nurses
The letter Brooke sends with the books: what they are for, and what EAWCP can bring into a building. Print it or forward it to a nurse who has not heard from us yet.
Download letterCampaign update
Where the campaign stands right now, and what is coming next.
View updateWays to connect
Reach out to us directly, or contact EAWCP for training, programs, and support services.
Campaign email
pagesofpurpleeawcp@gmail.com
pagesofpurpleeawcp@gmail.com
Instagram
@pagesofpurpleeawcp
@pagesofpurpleeawcp
Donate or learn more
pagesofpurple.net/donate
pagesofpurple.net/donate
EAWCP website
www.eawcp.org
www.eawcp.org
EAWCP email
staff@eawcp.org
staff@eawcp.org
EAWCP phone
800-336-0301
800-336-0301
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Help us turn another page.
One bear comforted one three-year-old, and she never forgot it. Pick a way to pass that on, and another child finds out they are not alone.