Holiday Weekend Hoopla

Memorial Day weekend was a big one for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.  We started the holiday off with packet pick-up for the Go Girl Run to benefit CMNH and other local charities.  This race was sponsored by the hospital and has met with amazing interest - more than 1,000 runners were registered before race day!  The race Saturday morning, garnered a donation of nearly $1500 for CMNH, the top benefitting non-profit. 

We also went to Joe Machens Ford on Friday evening to do live interviews for the Machens CAReS for Kids event.  They donated $100 for every car sold at all 13 locations all weekend.  I'm not sure how much they ended up raising, but it's such a great event.  We hung out with the newscaster and ate popcorn and push-up pops.  Unfortunately, the news van had audio issues, and we didn't get to do the actual interviews.

Finally, Saturday was Grill Sergeant day at the local Walmart and Sam's Club stores.  This is such a fun event!  Nearly 100 soldiers came in from Fort Leonard Wood and volunteered their time to run barbecues at six Walmart and Sam's Club locations.  Jayla greeted them all when we met at the hospital Saturday morning.  She told them a little bit about Cystic Fibrosis and why she loves the hospital (they're nice to her and give her toys!).  After that, she visited several of the Walmart locations although she didn't last very long - it was so hot!  I finished up visiting the remaining locations.  The soldiers were absolutely amazing.  They worked in the heat all day.  In addition to barbecuing, some did face painting, sold ice cream, t-shirts, and goodies; and many did push-ups for extra donations.  Afterwards, several soldiers came back to the hospital to visit the kids who were inpatient.  The kids LOVED seeing the soldiers!  It's so amazing to me that these men and women would donate their time on a holiday weekend to help local kids.  In doing so, they raised more than $12,000 in one day!!!