First Lady Melania Trump will make Valentine’s Day crafts with children this year.
She will return to The Children’s Inn, a facility at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, where she will sit with families and children involved in clinical trials. She visited the facility a number of times during President Donald Trump’s first term, engaging in Valentine’s Day activities there in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
During a first visit to the facility, she decorated cookies and other treats with patients staying there and made jewelry at another event the following year. This time, she plans to work on arts projects with children at the clinic, including making valentines.
Other members of the NIH will also be present, including NIH Director Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, The Children’s Inn CEO Jennie Lucca and The Children’s Inn Vice Chair Scott Royal.
Bhattacharya, the 18th Director of NIH, was nominated by Trump in 2024 and confirmed by the Senate to his position in 2025.
The Children’s Inn bills itself as “a residential ‘Place Like Home’ for families with children, teens and young adults participating in leading-edge research studies” at NIH.
“The NIH Clinical Center is the nation’s premier biomedical research hospital, providing an opportunity for our families to be partners in advancing medical discoveries,” reads The Children’s Inn website. “While the NIH takes care of the child’s medical needs, The Inn tends to the child’s heart, soul and spirit.”
The White House last year provided personalized Easter baskets to children staying there as part of another holiday-themed celebration. In May 2019, Melania Trump also hosted a group of The Children’s Inn families at The White House as part of the First Lady’s “Be Best” initiative.
The institution serves a greater purpose than hobnobbing. It also provides many children facing terminal conditions with experimental treatments and access to cutting edge research.
