In Monaco, kindness tends to move at the speed of a Formula 1 pit stop change. Case in point: Les Enfants de Frankie, the Monegasque association that spent the first half of the year quietly multiplying moments of relief and joy for children who need it most, more than 3,500 of them between January and June alone. That surge in impact is a string of very tangible actions that have brightened wards, schoolyards, and therapy rooms across Monaco and the surrounding region.
What “healing hearts” looked like this semester
From January to June, the association funded or delivered an unusually wide mix of projects, the kind that change the feel of a child’s day: a sensory room for a care home; an art kiosk and a pottery wheel for creative therapy; inclusive play spaces for autistic children; basketball hoops for a school courtyard to spark teamwork and confidence; even a VR headset in a hospital so young patients can “travel” somewhere their bodies can’t, if only for a few pain-free minutes. On the tech side, adapted computers and a specialized tablet are now helping hearing-impaired and autistic children communicate and learn more independently. The team also stepped in for individual cases, like financing an intensive rehab program for Louca, a little boy living with a rare genetic mutation.
A Monaco original, powered by community
Les Enfants de Frankie isn’t new to this work. Founded in 1997 and now under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, the charity has spent nearly three decades serving sick, disabled and vulnerable children in Monaco and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Its clown-nosy mascot, “Frankie,” dates back far and has become a shorthand for comfort and cheer in paediatric corridors.
That community backing remains essential. The association continues to rely on donors and partners to fund its growing slate of programs, €33,846 invested just in the first semester for equipment and activities that make daily life gentler and more playful.
The momentum continues: back-to-school and “Dance with Frankie”
The second half of the year is already humming. In early August, AS Monaco’s ASMonacœur programme launched a back-to-school supply collection on behalf of Les Enfants de Frankie, another example of how local institutions are stepping in to widen the safety net.
And then there’s the headline tradition: Frankie’s Christmas, returning for its 28th edition on 26 November 2025 with the theme “Dance with Frankie.” Expect a thousand-plus children to be treated to a show, snacks and gifts, a full day staged to feel like a pause button on hardship, stitched together with music, laughter and light.
This matters so much … even beyond the numbers
Les Enfants de Frankie’s model pairs small, specific purchases (a pottery wheel, a therapeutic camera) with big, communal experiences (a full theatrical party day for kids who rarely get one). That balance is how the charity keeps widening its circle of care: small investments that alter a child’s Tuesday; large events that remind them they’re part of a much bigger “we.” It’s also a model rooted in Monaco’s civic fabric, witness 20 plus years of the principality’s Red Nose Day fundraising and the 25th-anniversary gala in 2023 under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II.
If the first half of 2025 is any guide, the next six months will bring more of the same: practical tools, tailor-made therapies, and moments of pure joy, each one a small repair to a child’s world, all of them together a quietly radical act of public tenderness. As the association likes to put it: behind every project are faces, stories, emotions, and, increasingly, a community determined to keep those stories moving toward hope.
