We've been celebrating up a storm here in the GHS Office of Philanthropy & Partnership this spring!

Whew! Is it just me or has this been an action-packed, fabulously busy spring?

Because so many wonderful things have been going on here in the Office of Philanthropy & Partnership, I thought I’d share quick glimpses of all of them with you:

Rescued by Love
What a bittersweet way to kick off the spring – this year marked Tiffiney Photography’s last Rescued by Love fundraising contest for the Bryan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Now, obviously, I don’t have favorites when it comes to our donors; I’m pretty much in awe of all of them. But, you know what it feels like when you meet a kindred spirit and that person makes you even more passionate about the things you love? That’s what it’s been like to meet, brainstorm and dream with Tiffiney. She’s been such a joy to work with over the past three years, and I’m so grateful for her infectious compassion!

Dance Marathon
For the first time this year, I worked with area college students on raising funds for Children’s Hospital (via Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals) through Dance Marathon. What does that mean? It means I spent three weekends this spring with Erskine College, Clemson University and Western Carolina University students, dancing up a storm, hugging the patient families that came out to share their stories and celebrating their fundraising success.

No matter where I was – Due West all the way to Cullowhee – I kept thinking the same thing every weekend: “This. Is. Amazing. Look at how excited these students are to support pediatric patients! Look at how willing they are to give up a Saturday to make a huge difference! Look at what happens when students latch on to the idea of philanthropy and don’t let go!”

Our next Dance Marathon is Sept. 21 at Furman University, and I can’t wait to be amazed all over again.

Dragon Boat Upstate Festival
This was my fourth Dragon Boat Upstate Festival, and I gotta tell you: This one felt even more special to me (and trust me, every year is awesomely special).

For a couple of years, my husband and a couple of friends have volunteered at Dragon Boat, mostly because they heard me talk about it all the time and just had to see it for themselves. Before I knew it, I wasn’t the only one talking about how great Dragon Boat is – my husband and our friends started talking about it at their jobs, with other friends, at church.

This year? Ten of my friends volunteered. Ten, y’all. Ten of the people I love most got up crazy early on a Saturday, drove to Portman Marina at Lake Hartwell and spent the day handing out paddles and life jackets, loading paddlers into boats and taking photos. When we celebrated with milkshakes at the end of the day, they couldn’t wait to talk all about Dragon Boat: They shared sweet stories of meeting cancer patients, they grilled me on exactly where the $305,000 (and counting!) we raised goes (cancer research and survivorship programs) and they already started talking about volunteering again in 2014.

What about you? How have you spent your spring? How have you seen your passions influencing the community around you?

When our donors give, they brighten up a child's day. And we love hearing about what inspired them to give!

Happy New Year!

Let’s kick off 2013 with some inspiring and touching stories, shall we?

Throughout the holidays, when folks give to Virtual Toy Drive (over $62,000 this year!), I often ask them a simple question in my thank-you emails: What sparked your desire to give to Children’s Hospital?

Here are just a few of the stories our donors shared (thank you to everyone who sent in your stories!):

“I just wanted to help make it a little easier for a child going through a tough time.” – William

“My wife and I just adopted a newborn and while she was in the NICU, we saw so many unfortunate families as well as know how much a benefit donations can be to the hospital.  Our daughter during her stay was able to benefit from donated swings and vibration chairs and I just wanted to help.” – Ross

“This year, as I grieved the loss of 28 lives in Newtown, CT, I couldn’t figure out how to concretely reach out in memory of these children and adults.  Then, at 1 a.m., I woke with a start.  It was the Virtual Toy Drive for children.  That’s how I could make a difference.  I can’t help heal those families in CT except through my prayers, but I knew through this gift, I could offer healing to other children.” – Anita

“Last year my husband spent time in GHS on two different occasions, leaving the last time just before the holidays for hospice at home.  When I thought about how hard that was for us as adults, I realized how much harder it would be for children who wouldn’t understand what was happening to them and for their parents who would be feeling nearly powerless.” – Elizabeth

“My daughter was born premature and was in the Bryan NICU at Greenville Memorial Hospital. The care that me and my daughter received was enough to make me give back to a child in need every chance I can.  I live by “It takes a village to raise our kids” and “Help thy neighbors” because you never know when you or someone dear to you will be on the other end.” – Kimberlin

“My family and I are doing “25 Days of Giving” to prepare our hearts for Christmas Day. We have been completing an act of kindness for each day in December. After seeing a commercial about the Virtual Toy Drive on WYFF 4, I knew this was something we needed to do for one of our days.” – Kate

“I couldn’t really give enough to the Children’s Hospital to compensate for what the Department of Pediactric Neurology has done for my son. Carey has Lenox-Gastaut Syndrome which is a rare form of epilepsy.  Carey suffers a great deal with his seizures and Dr. Morales and his staff have been nothing short of wonderful in their efforts to treat Carey. They are there when we need them. Especially Dr. Morales. He’s a wonderful human being and truly loves the children he cares for and treats. We have taken Carey all over to different facilities – MUSC, Scottish Rite and, most recently, Johns Hopkins Hospital-  to be treated.  We have had better care here at GHS  which has exceeded any care by these other facilities by far.” – Lisa

What about you? Who or what is your reason for giving? Share in the comments below or e-mail your story to me at jparker4@ghs.org.

Our last family photo, taken in June at my nephew's high school graduation. Mama Linda is, of course, the gorgeous woman in blue.

Forgive me for the lengthy delay between blog posts, friends. I’ve been a little distracted.

My mother – the sweetest, strongest, funniest, most faithful woman I know – died Oct. 1, two days after her 64^th birthday.

She died 15 hours after I hugged her goodbye, ripped out of our lives unexpectedly by a massive heart attack, smiling and joking through the pain with my brother and sister-in-law up until her last breath.

Through the blur of our drive home to North Carolina, through the blur of the week she died, through the blur of the weeks afterward, I just keep thinking: What happens now? What do we do next? How do we deal with this every day?

And then I started thinking about the families I work with every day.

I started thinking about families like the Winns, who took their grief over losing their Uncle Karl to cancer and turned it into a fire that fueled a tissue bank to benefit GHS Cancer Center patients and families like theirs.

I started thinking about the mother who, after losing her premature baby, devoted herself to volunteering in the Bryan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit because, as she told me, those sweet babies were like her children now.

So, after I started thinking, I decided to do something.

My mom loved, loved, loved children – and children loved her. She worked at our old elementary school, and upon her passing, our family got waves of handmade cards, carefully printed letters, colorful drawings from the kids there.

My mom loved kids, and I want to keep that love alive. I’ve started a toy drive on Virtualtoydrive.org in her memory – the Mama Linda Toy Drive – with a goal of $1,000 for GHS Children’s Hospital patients. Because I won’t get to buy her that new coffee pot she wanted or surprise her with a special photobook for Christmas, I’m using the money set aside for her Christmas gifts to help make sure pediatric patients have the items they need most.

You can help me celebrate Mama Linda here, or you can support other toy drives on Virtualtoydrive.org here.

What about you? How will you remember or celebrate a loved one this holiday season?

You know what? Picking just one story to share from the 2012 Children’s Hospital Radiothon  - which raised over $317,000 this year, our biggest year ever – is a tough job.

It’s just too hard – which is why I’m sharing a few of the many, many brights spots from the Radiothon, held Sept. 13-14 at Greenville Memorial Hospital and Mac’s Speed Shop.

Here are some of my favorite stories:

Love this - Children's Hospital patients who gave also got to meet folks like Hawk and Tom from B93.7!

Kids Helping Kids

Yup, I mentioned this last year, but it absolutely is worth repeating: The amount of sweet kids who trekked out to Greenville Memorial Hospital with their parents, just to give their piggy bank money to Children’s Hospital Radiothon, was simply amazing. All of them had listened to patient stories and live family interviews on one of the five Entercom Upstate radio stations (B93.7, Magic 98.9, New Rock 93.3, WROQ 101.1 and WORD 106.3). When those kids heard that kids their own age needed help, they made an immediate decision: “I want to give!”

Kids even got creative: 10-year-old Maddy asked for her friends to buy toys for Children’s Hospital patients instead of gifts for her at her last birthday party, and she and her grandma dropped off those gift bags – full of stuffed animals, books and games – during Radiothon.

And this may be my favorite kids-giving-back story: I saw multiple – multiple! – Children’s Hospital patients coming downstairs, right in the middle of treatment, to drop their dollars and change into the donation boxes. Amazing.

The Rise Guys got, um, creative during their Radiothon broadcast at Mac's Speed Shop.

Boys will be boys

This year, Radiothon expanded its broadcast to a second location at Mac’s Speed Shop in downtown Greenville, which made for some fun new additions.

Like, for instance, the bacon-eating contest that The Rise Guys competed in one morning – and yes, everyone at Mac’s was gathered around the broadcast table to get a front row seat for that one.

That just made me smile and appreciate the Entercom folks even more. I loved seeing that each of the radio stations shared so many special patient stories while still entertaining and engaging their individual audiences in their own ways.

Stacie Bartro and Lee Alexander announce the 2012 Children's Hospital Radiothon final tally, as the lobby crowd cheers.

The final tally

Watching the action at Radiothon is interesting: multiple radio stations are broadcasting at once, families flow in and out for their live interviews and team members update our needs/goal boards every couple of minutes.

Even with all that happening, it feels pretty quiet sometimes in the lobby, because so much of the action is happening on your radio dial or in our donation call center.

However.

The last hour of Radiothon is a BLAST. The lobby is humming with the sounds of excited patients, families, sponsors, supporters and employees, just waiting for those magic numbers to light up at 6 p.m.

It is truly awesome to hear the roar in the lobby when we all find out – together – how much our wonderfully generous community has helped us raise for Children’s Hospital patients and families.

Now it’s your turn! Did you have a favorite story or experience from Radiothon? If you haven’t seen our Radiothon photos yet, check ‘em out here.

The best part of my Radiothon recording experience involved a very special, very cool moment with Stoneman of WROQ Rock 101.1 (pictured above) and a great Children's Hospital family. Read about it below!

Ever think about radio? What about radio and fundraising? Who would have ever guessed that fundraising on the radio could be so much fun?

It’s that time of year when Children’s Hospital of Greenville Hospital System partners with Entercom Upstate Radio for the annual Children’s Hospital Radiothon! We’re working to put together stories of some of our “miracle kids” to share with the community on Entercom’s five local radio stations Sept. 13-14.

I was able to tag along with our Stewardship Coordinator, Zach, to see how a Radiothon pre-recorded story was done. Boy, was I in for an awesome surprise…

A mom and her three children – twins Sam and Jake, 13; and Jill, 8 – walked into Entercom Radio Stations’ studio to share their Children’s Hospital experience. Sam spent his 11^th birthday in the hospital being treated for leukemia.  To ease the pain of being stuck in the hospital on his birthday, Child Life Specialists surprised him with a birthday party, complete with a birthday cake, decorations and presents. Mom said she didn’t remember what she gave Sam for his birthday, but what she did remember was that Child Life Specialists gave him a mini air hockey game. It was clear to me from that one statement just how much that gesture from the Child Life Specialists meant, not only to Sam, but to Sam’s mom. How incredible is that?

During our time at Entercom, I had the opportunity to give the three siblings a tour of the radio station. We went straight up to the studios where the on-air talents do their magic.

To my surprise, I ran into a DJ outside the on-air studio, and I asked if he could show us how he ran everything. Stoneman of Rock 101 graciously obliged and interacted with all of us. The best part was when Stoneman introduced the children on air and had them speak briefly. If only I had a camera to take a picture of their three faces and how excited they were – that was priceless!

When we left the studio, I loved hearing Sam and Jake talk about how cool it was to be heard on the radio in other countries. How many other kids their age can say that?

Thank you Stoneman and Entercom for making the day extra special!

Tune in to WROQ Rock 101; WORD News Radio 106.3; Magic 98.9; B 93.7; and The Planet New Rock 93.9 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 13^th and Friday, Sept. 14^th to hear more stories of the amazing work at Children’s Hospital, including Sam’s story!

Click www.radiothon2012.com to help support children like Sam.

Lorien (right), the CMN Hospitals captain in the Sylva Walmart, helped make this gorgeous quilt for her store's Miracle Campaign

If you keep up with our blog, then you know I’ve been on a couple of road trips this summer for work (if you’re new to our blog, welcome!).

Last week, I shared some stories from my trip to Atlanta for the national Dance Marathon Leadership Conference. This week, I’ve got some mountain tales for you.

Asheville

My co-worker Gina and I hit the road recently to say thank you and meet with some incredible supporters around Asheville, NC. Yup, Asheville.

Our Children’s Hospital treats pediatric patients from the western North Carolina area (and down into Georgia, too!), so our hard-working Walmart associates and our passionate Western Carolina University students raise funds throughout the year for us via Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals).

Given that, I may not even need to tell you this next bit: My favorite part of spending time with those associates and campus leaders was seeing, hearing and feeling their passion for making a difference in the lives of pediatric patients, even though those generous folks live over an hour away and in a completely different state.

Isn’t that amazing? (Sidenote: as we previously tackled those energetic college students, I want to focus on the Walmart folks for this post)

And these associates aren’t just passionate, they are P-A-S-S-I-O-N-A-T-E. They brainstorm special fundraisers (like yard sales, pie-in-the-face contests, popcorn days), on top of asking customers to give to CMN Hospitals. They spend MONTHS planning out their Miracle Campaign, and they keep an eye on other stores’ fundraising efforts (for some good-natured competition that we celebrate annually at Walmart Day).

My two other favorite parts?

• Saying thank you: You cannot imagine the huge smiles that appear on associates’ faces when you say thank you and give them a special CMN Hospitals button or bracelet. Those smiles are infectious!
• Teamwork: After saying our thanks, associates immediately gave the credit to their CMN Hospitals store captains (that’s you, Lorien and Shirley!). Captains voluntarily spend that time mentioned above planning the campaign and making those brilliant fundraising ideas a reality, with the help of their faithful teams.

What about you? What’s been your favorite road trip this summer, and why?

Forgive the blurry photo: Snapped this shot with my phone, mid-conference, as college students proudly swapped their schools' Dance Marathon shirts.

It’s summer, y’all.

And, as I’m sure you can attest to, that means there’s a ton of stuff going on. You’ve probably already taken your family vacation or maybe you’re counting down the days til you travel.

Over the past month, I’ve hit the road a couple times for work, and I’ve been taking mental notes on great giving stories to share with you.

Here’s a glance at one of my summer road trips:

Atlanta

Hellooooo, awesomely enthusiastic college students!

I traveled to ATL for the national Dance Marathon Leadership Conference, which was chockful of incredibly passionate students from across the country (note: we currently have Dance Marathons at Clemson University and Western Carolina University, and we’re working to establish more). I’m new to Dance Marathon (you can learn more about this great CMN Hospitals fundraiser, which benefits GHS Children’s Hospital locally, here), so attending the conference was an incredible way to learn more about the event and talk to student leaders.

So, here’s what I asked a few of the leaders: What’s your favorite part of Dance Marathon?

“The families, hands down. I love meeting them and hearing their stories. Plus, it’s great for all of us to see who we’re helping and how it makes a difference.” – Nicole, University of Florida

“I’ve never seen our school pull together like they did for DemonTHON [the school's Dance Marathon]. We don’t usually have a ton of school spirit, but when they announced how much money we’d raised for CMN [Hospitals], our students broke out into the school cheer. It was pretty incredible.” – Bill, DePaul University

And here’s the conversation I’ll never forget:

While waiting for a workshop to start, I struck up a conversation with a student beside me. We talked about her studies at the University of Maine, and she asked about where I went to college.

Me: “UNC-Chapel Hill.”

Her: “Oh, cool! My little sister’s going there in the fall. She really wants to get involved with the Dance Marathon there.”

Me: “That’s awesome!”

Her: “Yeah. We’re actually a Miracle Family- both of my sisters were in the hospital when they were younger, and we got so much support through CMN [Hospitals]. We really want to give back.”

Can you please just imagine my face at that moment? I was completely blown away at the simple, matter-of-fact generosity in her statement: Other folks helped her family when they were in need, so here she is, years later, doing the same thing for other families like hers.

Amazing.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my road trip stories. In the meantime, feel free to share your giving stories below!

You don’t get to a fundraising event by accident.

Wherever you are, whether you’re at a 5K race or a black-tie dinner, you’re there because of someone or something. That race, that room, that event is full of stories – even if, in the words of one of my friends, the story is that you just showed up for a free T-shirt/dinner.

Last week, I thought of that wealth of stories as I stood in a room of supporters at the Thornblade Club, all gathered for the Night of Courage. All of us – golfers, doctors, patients, parents of patients, sponsors, guests – were there with a story. All of us, with our stories in tow, joined together for one purpose: to make an unforgettable summer at Camp Courage possible for GHS Children’s Hospital patients with cancer and blood disorders.

I thought of that wealth of stories when I was stitching together the video embedded above. I thought of how even though the message sounds the same – “Thank you for giving!” – the video, like any good thank you, is a nod, a recognition, a grateful embrace of the fact that our supporters allowed their stories to shape how they live and give in our community.

What about you? What’s your story and where did it take you?

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Camp Courage for my annual visit. I look forward to that drive to Pleasant Ridge Park & Retreat Center, that day of smiles and giggles, that time with campers every year.

I traipsed all over that gorgeous camp with cameras in tow, working joyfully and frantically to capture as much of camp life that I could. On that day, my eyes are open and my ears are ready to take in a wealth of stories, images and memories to share with the donors who make it possible. Basically, I feel like a giant sponge, just taking everything in and imagining all the ways to tell those stories.

Above, you’ll find the first story from camp: It’s a look at why something as small as craft supplies can have such a big impact on children with cancer and blood disorders, and it’s a thank you gift for Virtual Toy Drive donors who have given those supplies.

This is just the beginning of the first story, really: teens arrive at Camp Courage in early August, and you’ve still got time to ensure that these creative, therapeutic moments continue by giving here through Virtual Toy Drive.

Sometimes, when the office blues hit, you just need a little perspective. Camp Courage (and its Alpine Tower pictured above) gave us a little bit of that this week.

Do ya ever get the office blues?

You know, the feeling where you nearly forget why you do what you do, and instead your day looks like this:

“WHY isn’t the copier working? Does it just hate me??”

“I’ve spent all day in meetings, and my brain is tired.”

“I have 27,000 e-mails in my inbox.”

Yup. Sometimes that happens around here, too. Thankfully, there have been plenty, plenty of reminders this week to make me see again why (as my colleague Dianne says) we do what we do:

• I talked to two incredible cancer survivors this week who told me how our Moving On program brought invaluable strength, energy and support into their lives. “I was bed-ridden in December and January,” Janet Jones told me. “Twelve weeks in the Moving On program, and now I can do this!” (And Janet proudly flexed an impressive muscle in her right arm.)
• Dianne took her first trip to Camp Courage this week, and she literally glowed from the experience of meeting those campers and seeing them enjoy an action-packed, adventurous, unforgettable camp experience, just like their friends.
• On my annual trip to Camp Courage this week, I heard one young cancer patient (who was touring the camp with her mom) loudly declare “Sign me up!” to everyone within earshot.

What about you? When it comes to giving, who or what reminds you why you do what you do?