December 13, 2016

121416mainstreet640If you want to have fun this holiday season while supporting a good cause then Main Street America’s annual holiday event in Spring is just what you are looking for.

Called Lights of Hope, the event provides nine Houston-area charitable organizations one of the 12 Main Street America designer showcase homes to create a thematic outdoor lighting display.

Texas Children’s home was decorated by staff in The Woodlands and is themed “Presents Under the Tree.”

Mike Feigin, owner of Main Street America and son of the late Dr. Ralph Feigin, developed the charity idea three years ago with his wife Barbara after hosting the Christmas on Main Street event for five years. The couple believes it is important to support the organizations and hope the event raises awareness for them and the wonderful things they do for Houston and its surrounding areas.

The decorated homes are open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Saturday through December 17 at 18750 Interstate 45 N. in Spring, off Exit 66B. The community is invited to tour the homes and cast a vote with a $1 donation. All donations are given directly to each of the participating charities. Last year, the event raised $88,000 for 11 participating organizations.

In addition to being able to keep the donations, the charity with the most votes will receive a $10,000 check for the best outdoor light display, with the Lights of Hope award presented December 17 to the home with the most popular votes.

This year’s nine participating Montgomery County and Houston-area charities include: My Person Foundation, The Breast Center, New Danville, Bridgewood Farms, JDRF, Interfaith of The Woodlands, HOPE, American Heart Association and Texas Children’s Hospital.

If Texas Children’s wins, the $10,000 will be given to the Texas Children’s Hospital Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) to support childhood neurological research.

For more information about the Main Street America event and for an exclusive $5-off coupon, click here. If you can’t make it to the event but want to vote for the house decorated by Texas Children’s employees, click here. For every dollar donated, the Texas Children’s house will get a vote.

Thanks for your support!

October 18, 2016

12016HoustonMarathon640Want to achieve a personal fitness goal and help preserve the mission of Texas Children’s Hospital? Runners can still enter the sold out 2017 marathon and half marathon races through the Chevron Houston Marathon’s Run for a Reason charity program.

Texas Children’s Hospital is an official charity for the Houston Marathon and Half Marathon, taking place on Sunday, January 15, 2017. The Run for a Reason program is a way for runners to run the race of their choice with a guaranteed entry – on behalf of a charity.

Running for Texas Children’s Hospital is not just about the race, it’s a promise to our patients. By signing up to run and fundraise on behalf of Texas Children’s Hospital, your donations will directly impact the lives of countless children. Your race will become the race for our patients who are too sick – sometimes too sick even to play outside. Your support will allow us to expand our care to even more children who need our help.

Make your promise and join the Texas Children’s Running Team today!

1. Fundraise to Run
A fundraising entry is a way for runners to secure a guaranteed entry to the race of their choice while fundraising for Texas Children’s Hospital.

The minimum fundraising milestone to receive the guaranteed entry for the full marathon is $750 and for the half marathon is $500. Please complete this form and email it to Eileen Condit in the Office of Development at runforareason@texaschildrens.org to sign up and secure your registration.

Donations will be received through February 2017. These donations can come from friends, family and employer matching programs.

2. Support the Team
To support the Texas Children’s running team with a donation, please visit our fundraising page.

Questions?
Please contact Eileen Condit at Ext. 4-6823 or runforareason@texaschildrens.org.

May 18, 2016

51816flowerdoorsinside175Texas Children’s first annual May Flowers fundraising drive is currently underway, and employees can be a part of making it a huge success!

Here’s the plan: Members of the Development Department are going to hang spring flowers on the doors of our patients’ rooms to brighten their days. Donors who give to Texas Children’s as part of the campaign can personalize the flowers with their names and locations to show our patients they are thinking of them and to help Texas Children’s continue to provide the very best care to children and families in the Houston area and beyond.

Here are two things that you can do to help:

  • Share on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Let your friends and family know they can join you in bringing some spring fun to our patients.
  • Send a flower by making a donation. Send a flower to one of our patients, and we’ll decorate their door with a personalized flower from you. texaschildrens.org/flowers.

These flowers will do more than bring some spring cheer inside our walls. More importantly, they will help Texas Children’s ensure that children in need of advanced critical, surgical and emergency care can always find it here when they need it the most.

We are well on our way to being able to decorate all our patients’ doors with colorful spring flowers that show them just how much people care. With your help, our hallways will soon be in full bloom!

The last day of the campaign is Friday, May 20. Flowers will be hung in early June and stay up through the end of the month.

To personalize one with your name, give today: texaschildrens.org/flowers.

May 10, 2016

51116stbaldrick640Nineteen years ago, Adam Henderson lost his hair to chemotherapy while battling acute lymphocytic leukemia at Texas Children’s. On April 9, this long-term cancer survivor is bald once again but this time it’s for a good cause. He and others participated in St. Baldrick’s annual fundraising event in Sugar Land.

Henderson and his former pediatric oncologist Dr. Timothy Porea, clinical director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, and Dr. Fatih Okcu shaved their heads to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer research. Chris Stout, the father of Texas Children’s cancer patient Justin Stout, and students from Baylor College of Medicine, UT Med and Rice University participated in the event including long-term cancer survivor Michael Graves who emceed the event.

“There were a lot of emotions about being bald again,” Henderson said. “This time, I did it by choice and it was a joyous occasion because I was able to promote and support a worthy cause.”

St. Baldrick’s annual “Brave the Shave” challenge brings together survivors, patient families, physicians and supporters from across the community to raise funds for childhood cancer research. This year, these nationwide shaving events – 1,158 to be exact – have raised more than $28 million. Since the first event began in 2000, St. Baldrick’s Foundation has raised more than $178 million in funding for childhood cancer research – more than any organization other than the U.S government.

The foundation started in response to the lack of funding for childhood cancer research. According to the organization’s website, while 175,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year, all types of childhood cancers combined receive only 4 percent of the U.S. federal funding for research. The funds raised through St. Baldrick’s have helped fund 820 grants at 329 institutions in 22 countries. Several of these funds support researchers at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers.

“Seeing Adam and other cancer survivors standing next to me means we have succeeded,” Porea said. “Their inspirational stories of survival are a testament of why we do what we do every day here at Texas Children’s. Through advanced research, we can help save more lives and ultimately find a cure for childhood cancers.”

Porea has participated in St. Baldrick’s fundraising and head shaving event for the last 11 years. This is the second time he and his former patient participated in the event together. After all these years, Porea and Henderson still keep in touch and are counselors at Camp Periwinkle.

Prior to the head shaving challenge, two of St. Baldrick’s scholars – Drs. Karen Rabin and Wendy Allen-Rhoades – delivered opening remarks and highlighted the benefits of funding pediatric cancer research.

Click here to watch a spotlight video of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers.

December 2, 2015

12215givingtuesday640

Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Tuesday was a day to give back and you helped us reach 400 online gifts on Giving Tuesday.

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is known as Giving Tuesday – a global day dedicated to giving back. Now in its fourth year, this day was founded with a simple purpose: to celebrate generosity and give. More than 30,000 organizations in 68 countries have engaged in the movement since it was started, and Texas Children’s was happy to make this a new tradition of giving back to our patients.

Texas Children’s celebrated this day of generosity with an online fundraising drive in honor of our patients. Our goal was 500 online gifts in honor of each of the patients staying with us each day – one child, one gift.

We are happy to see the community give back to our organization helping us set a record-breaking day for online donations, but the holidays are still upon us and we hope the generous donations will continue to pour in as we think of the families still in the hospital this holiday season.

You can still make a donation toward this effort to help the patients at Texas Children’s. Give today.

September 23, 2014

92414BadPants640

Texas Children’s employees and former patients’ families gathered at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women to honor our neonatal nurses for their hard work and dedication. But, this wasn’t your typical celebration.

Nurses traded in their scrubs for creative, yet cringe-worthy pants that probably wouldn’t get the nod of approval from Giorgio Armani or Gianni Versace: green pants with bright yellow flowers, candy corn pants and red slacks with flamboyant feathers, to name a few.

For nurses at Texas Children’s Newborn Center, Bad Pants Day was more than just dressing up in whacky attire. It was their day to shine and realize just how much they are appreciated for the diligent work they do every day to improve the outcomes of critically-ill infants in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

View the photo gallery:

Several NICU families joined in on the festivities, including David and Lauren Perkins, and their energetic 2-year-old sextuplets – Benjamin, Caroline, Andrew, Allison, Levi and Leah – who teamed up for a game of putt-putt golf with the neonatal nurses.

Ben and Amanda Kopp shared their unforgettable experience about the NICU staff who took wonderful care of their daughter, Cami, who was born at just 25 weeks at the Pavilion.

“Throughout the ups and downs of Cami’s 86-day stay in the NICU, the nurses, doctors and volunteers at Texas Children’s gave us the faith and confidence that our precious little angel would not only survive, but thrive,” said Amanda Kopp. “Today, our 17-month-old daughter is happy and healthy.”

Texas Children’s Bad Pants Day event also marked the official kick off for next month’s 17th annual Bad Pants Open. All proceeds from the golf tournament will support Texas Children’s Newborn Center. Several of the sponsors and organizers of this fundraiser attended Bad Pants Day to show their appreciation for our NICU nurses.

To register for the Bad Pants Open and support a worthy cause, click here.

To learn more about Texas Children’s Newborn Center, click here for a video tour.