Ryan Seacrest and Camila Cabello made dreams come true at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The singer, 21, and radio host, 43, were greeted with big smiles as the visited young patients during an event hosted by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation on Friday. In exclusive photos shared with PEOPLE, Seacrest looked happy as he hugged his sister, Meredith Seacrest, who also serves as the executive director of his non-profit organization, The Ryan Seacrest Foundation.
The American Idol host took Cabello to visit his foundation’s broadcast media center, Seacrest Studios, at the hospital in the City of Brotherly Love, where the “Havana” singer was in town to perform as part of Taylor Swift‘s Reputation Stadium Tour.
Cabello sang a rendition of her popular hit for a crowd of young and captivated spectators while at the studio.
“A really special day at @ChildrensPhila #SeacrestStudios! Thanks for surprising the kids @Camila_Cabello :)” the Live! with Kelly and Ryan host wrote on Instagram.
Cabello also shared photos of her special time at the hospital with Seacrest and the children she met there.
“The Ryan Seacrest Foundation does a beautiful thing for the kids in Philly’s Children’s Hospital,” she wrote in the caption. “Kids that are being treated at the hospital get to be themselves, express their dreams and voices, and have something fun to look forward to so they don’t feel defined by what’s going on in their lives at this moment.”
“By taking care of their hearts as well as their bodies and having activities, positive music, games, and competitions in the Ryan Seacrest studio downstairs- seeing their smiles, their spirit, and their positivity only makes it clearer to me that the most valuable lessons we can learn come from kids,” she continued.
“Today I heard a conversation between parents of a little girl at the hospital and @ryanseacrest, the parents told him how much the foundation helped their child – instead of talking about doctors and treatments, she was talking about how excited she was for the next karaoke competition at the studio downstairs,” Cabello wrote. “So thankful for foundations like these that make lives so much better, so thankful for kids like these – with so much talent, spunk, knowledge, and spirit in spite of their everyday battles – thank you @ryanseacrest @ryanfoundation for having me.”
Seacrest launched his nonprofit in 2010 and it has now grown to include media centers all across the country, including at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s National Medical Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Boston Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Seacrest Studios – which allows young patients to explore radio, television and new media as creative tools to help their healing process – have drawn other high-profile visiting artists, including Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Usher and Britney Spears.
“I wanted to do something that would take the kids minds off of what they were going through in the hospital,” he told PEOPLE in 2016. “It’s remarkable to see how when the kids are talking to some of their favorite stars, creating their own shows, doing their own interviews, they really forget some of the tough stuff that’s happening in the hospital.”
Swift also thrilled patients that year when she visited the kids at Children’s Hospital of Vanderbilt.
“It was thrilling to have Taylor surprise the patients, which made the day of our first broadcast at Vanderbilt even more special,” Seacrest told PEOPLE at the time of the jubilant event launching Seacrest Studios.
“She infused so much joy into the entire hospital community.”
