This past weekend was the 25th Annual All Children's Hospital Telethon here in St. Petersburg, FL. It's a 3 day event and is a big - HUGE - deal here. Despite a very poor article about fundraising events by a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times who clearly did not do her research, the telethon was a great success. Grand total raised: $4.2M!
While the funds raised are amazing ($4.2M is nothing to sneeze at!) and will help build the new ACH Hospital currently under construction, I'm astounded by the number of people that join together to make this "thing" work. There are the folks at the Hospital's Foundation - people that work on this all year, every year and are the cream of the crop to say the least; local news anchors that host the actual telethon; restaurant owners/workers that put in hours and hours at the Taste of Pinellas; and countless volunteers for various activities that show up at crazy times of the day ready to work. Why? Why do all these people come together when they could be out enjoying the year-long summer we have here in FL? For kids. Plain and simple. I've never seen so many people come together for one simple purpose...it's invigorating...and, dare I say, INSPIRING!
For me, it's something my parents did and I grew up being a part of. As a second generation Guild member, I went on a tour of ACH 7 years ago and could hardly contain myself as we walked through the Neonatal Intensive care unit. Our 8 local Guilds are raising money specifically for the new NICU in the new hospital.
If you ever take a tour of your local children's hospital you'll understand why I do this (it'll take all of a nano-second) in what little spare time there is in our lives.
I challenge you to:
- Tour your local children's hospital...go on - JUST DO IT!
- If you have kids, set a good example - like my parents did- and volunteer someplace that tugs at your heartstrings (Volunteer Match is a good place to start).
- Just pay it forward in any way you can...it's going to make you feel good...and let me know when you do.
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1 comment:
MIchelle: You have captured the spirit of Inspired by Family in your message this week. WE should all be motivated to do something in the community to not only help the cause but also to set an example for our children on what it means to love one another and truly be a good neighbor. Your experience with All Children's is a great one and it comes from years of observing and participating. If more parents do the right thing, the kids will be mroe likely to emulate them whenthey get older. The same holds true if they don't do the right things unfortunately. Kids are inspired by their parents one way or the other, it's up to the parents to do what is right.
KB
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