Help kids with Children’s Hospital Purchase a Miracle program
Published 12:25 pm Thursday, May 21, 2015
This month through June 15 is the Children’s Hospital Purchase a Miracle Program. Seattle Children’s Guild members from all over the region have tagged certain products with the Purchase a Miracle label. Participating stores donate money to Children’s when you purchase these sponsoring products.
You may have noticed these labels at your local grocery store. Seattle Children’s serves families in Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. They treat regardless of the family’s ability to pay. Money raised through the Purchase a Miracle program helps to cover this uncompensated care.
The Guild Association is made up of many guilds, spread all over the Puget Sound. The hospital served 6,262 Kitsap residents last calendar year. They provided a total of $2,155,889 in uncompensated care to our local residents in Kitsap.
This past year the guild that lead the way in fundraising was the Friends of Costco Guild. They contributed a net $6.2 million. If you donate there while you shop during the Purchase a Miracle program, they match your donation to Children’s, doubling your amount. Though this is a huge portion of the funds raised, every guild, with every activity they plan, has an important impact. The Guild Association values and needs every guild! You can also support Seattle Children’s by donating items to or shopping at one of the Guild Thrift Stores.
It has also been heartwarming to see children who were helped at Seattle Children’s grow up and return that help by joining the Hospital in educational campaigns and fundraising. I belong to the Angie W. Harrison Guild and along with the T.C. Baldwin Guild of Port Orchard, we sponsor a shopping trip before the holidays that we call the Sleigh of Dreams. One year a young woman who was treated at Children’s came on the trip with us and spoke about her experience years before at Children’s. Former patients never seem to forget the experience, and all I have spoken with have been so incredibly thankful.
The hospital is now recognized as one of the country’s top pediatric academic medical centers. This month, Dr. Jeff Sperring became Seattle Children’s new CEO. He replaces Dr. Thomas N. Hansen who is leaving to continue his life’s passion to help find cures for pediatric diseases through research.
— Karen Chu is a member of the Bremerton Patriot/Central Kitsap Reporter Community Advisory Board.
