Our Children: ‘Twice as Bright’ Doubles April Gifts to Children’s Campaign
Published on Wednesday, September 1, 2021
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
Children grow quickly, and so did gifts to the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi this spring.
Thanks to the Madison Charitable Foundation, a Texas nonprofit organization that supports children’s health, donors had the opportunity to have their gifts to the campaign up to $100,000 doubled in April. The drive, “Twice as Bright,” was aimed at completing the funding for the seven-story children’s hospital expansion at Children’s of Mississippi.
Twice as Bright raised more than $225,000 for the campaign.
Allie Henderson of Terry, who was in pediatric intensive care with a diagnosis of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children after having COVID-19, stopped by to donate along with her mother, Leann Henderson. The Twice as Bright event saw gifts doubled during April.
“We’re already seeing the difference the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower has made for children and families in Mississippi,” said Meredith Aldridge, executive director of development at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “Since the opening of this state-of-the-art pediatric hospital tower, thousands of children have received the care needed to thrive.”
This can be critical during COVID-19.
Children’s of Mississippi is the pediatric branch of UMMC that includes the state’s only children’s hospital and specialty care clinics around the state.
The Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi is the philanthropic drive to help fund the Sanderson Tower’s construction. Since 2016, the campaign has raised more than $88 million of the $100 million project that has more than doubled the square-footage devoted to pediatric care at the Medical Center.
“The generosity of Mississippians and the love they have for children is incredible,” Aldridge said. “Gifts of all sizes from around the state have made the opening of the Sanderson Tower possible, and we look forward to reaching the campaign’s $100 million goal.”