MAITLAND, Fla. — Thanks to 11-year-old Bella Garcia's "Bella's Bees," pediatric patients at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children may find comfort while coping with treatments.

Bella teams up with her 17-year-old sister, Gabby, to make the magic happen. Between the two of them, about 100 stuffed bees have gone out to patients at Arnold Palmer during the past two years.

Bella makes the items by hand, while Gabby packages them and handles all the social media — which helps attract people to donate to pay for supplies and materials.

The nonprofit got its start about two years ago, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Bella can’t remember exactly what inspired her to first take up crocheting, but says the process helps her to stay centered.

“It helps me to, like, calm down,” she said.

It also took some practice to make perfect, she said.

“It was hard at first, but then I got better as I practiced,” Bella said.

The idea to give bees came later, after she found a simple crochet pattern that she could easily learn by heart. Plus, she said it was a good play on her name, so that’s how “Bella’s Bees” was born.

“We started giving them to pediatric (patients) because my dad is a pediatric pulmonologist,” Bella said.

She hopes that young people facing diseases like cancer may cope a little better with her works in their hands, and said that’s what keeps her busy working in whatever free time she can muster.

“I think it makes them happier, because it brightens up their room and probably gets them really excited when they see it,” Bella said.

Along with the animals, she also includes some words of encouragement for the young patients: “Bee brave. Bee positive. Bee well soon.”