A Year Of Hurley Miracles: Gratitude for our CMN Partners throughout 2024
January: Amari is our 2024 CMN Champion
Every year, Hurley Foundation names a local child as the CMN Champion to represent our Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals program and the pediatric patients treated by Hurley Children’s Hospital. This year’s CMN Champion was Amari Ramsey. Huge thanks to Amari and her family for all of the wonderful things that they have done to support CMN programs this year. You can learn more about Amari’s story HERE.
February: Panda Express Lunar New Year
This year, Panda Express celebrated the Lunar New Year. We got an early start on the celebration by enjoying some lunch with our CMN Champion, Amari and some of our friends at Panda Express.
March: Dairy Queen “Free Cone Day”
On March 19th, Dairy Queen celebrated ‘Free Cone Day’. When you visited any participating Dairy Queen locations, you could enjoy your free cone and ‘Dip it for Kids’ at Hurley Children’s Hospital by making a donation of $1. Year after year, this campaign serves as a cornerstone for the start of spring, and proves that it’s never too cold for a sweet treat from Dairy Queen.
April: “Great Minds” CMN Partner Summit
Ahead of #ChildrensHospitalsWeek, Hurley Foundation hosted the very first CMN partner summit, bringing together some of the representatives from our corporate partners and programs to learn more about Hurley Children’s Hospital. Our incredible CMN partners did not show up empty handed! On this day, we collected 51 stuffed animals, 100 pinwheels, 28 puzzles, 34 packs of crayons, 131 cards, and 335 Play-Doh containers and several bags of toys and games for our youngest patients. You can learn more about Hurley’s ‘Great Minds’ CMN Partner Summit HERE.
May: Costco is Changing Kids’ Health
During the month of May, Costco had their month-long fundraiser for Hurley, asking for donations from all members at check out. Costco #1420 in Midland did an amazing job fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network programs here at Hurley. Over the summer, a few of their top fundraising team members stopped by to take a tour and they were so moved that their team collected thousands of nonperishable goods for the ‘Caregiver Nutrition Cabinet’ located within the hospital’s pediatric inpatient unit. We are so excited to continue our partnership and welcome a new Costco location to Flint in Spring of 2025.
June: Hurley Foundation’s “Miracles at the Museum”
Children, families, sponsors, volunteers and Hurley Foundation staff gathered for a night of miracles at the Sloan Museum of Discovery to support Hurley’s Child & Family Life program. The work done by Hurley’s Child & Family Life team is crucial to the experience of patients, caregivers, siblings and staff but is unfortunately not reimbursable by insurance. Funds raised at this event, and throughout the year, help fund this vital program.
July: Lapeer Leads the Way
On Slurpee Day, which falls on July 11th, we had a blast visiting local 7-Eleven and Speedway locations throughout our newly expanded CMN fundraising area in Lapeer county. During this one-day event, our friends at 7-Eleven and Speedway offered a free small Slurpee in an exclusive cup designed by 7-year-old Nolan, a CMNH champion who is now cancer-free. During the month of July, we also celebrated the end of Walmart & Sam’s Club’s annual campaign alongside store #1987 in Lapeer which raised over $13,000 at this location alone.
August: Celebrating Panda Cares Day
On August 8th, Hurley celebrated all the accomplishments of our partners at Panda Express. We are grateful for the year-round efforts of Panda associates that support the Panda Cares Center of Hope which is housed within the Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit here at Hurley. This special space aims to inspire hope and promote healing by focusing on a child’s entire well being.
September: “Let’s Make Miracles” Radiothon
The “Let’s Make Miracles” Radiothon was held on September 5th and 6th alongside our radio partners at Townsquare Media – Flint and our title sponsor, Dort Financial Credit Union. During this year’s Radiothon, we also hosted the first in-person #ExtraLife gaming event alongside our 2024 ambassadors, Gaming4Growth. Attendees played games while listening to the “Let’s Make Miracles” Radiothon and helped spread the word about #ExtraLife. Radiothon was such a great success, and we are so grateful for all of the community supporters and miracle families who stopped by to share their stories.
October: RE/MAX “Trivia With a Twist”
Our friends at RE/MAX New Image – Saginaw hosted their 6th annual “Trivia With a Twist” Fundraiser in October. Attendees enjoyed delicious comfort food, drinks, a silent auction and lots of party games. Since the inception of this special event, Deb and Ken wells have helped raise thousands of dollars for their local CMN hospital, Hurley Children’s Hospital. It was a great night for all.
November: ELGA Hosts 4th Annual “Raise The Purse” Event
ELGA Credit Union Foundation for IMPACT hosted their 4th annual Raise the Purse event, benefiting Hurley Children’s Hospital. Raise the Purse is a live auction of stylish, designer bags. All proceeds from this years auction will help with the purchase of a pediatric ultrasound machine for Hurley’s trauma team.
This year has been amazing, and it’s not over yet: Our CMN partners and programs continue to fundraise throughout the remainder of 2024, and next month Hurley Children’s Hospital is celebrating the return of its beloved “Glow” event, which is meant to brighten up this holiday season for our pediatric patients and staff. You can learn more about this event by visiting the Hurley Medical Center Facebook page.
Thank you to all of our CMN partners for this great year. We can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store!
MeKenzie Phillips is the CMN Office and Fundraising Associate at Hurley Foundation. Comments or questions about this blog? Email mphilli5@hurleymc.com.