AROUND GLENNON

Fire Truck O’ Toys 10 Years Strong!

As a small child, Kenzie was diagnosed with a degenerative bone disease called Legg-Calves Perthes. During her time receiving treatment at both SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, she noticed kids and families missing out on some of the joys of the holiday season as a result of being in the hospital. In 2011, Kenzie and her family decided to start Fire Truck O’ Toys, a local non-profit that collects toys and donations for hospitalized children.

Over the years, Fire Truck O’ Toys has grown into a special part of the holiday season at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon. Each year, Santa rides in on a vintage fire truck and spends time passing out toys to patients and families in front of the big Christmas tree in the hospital atrium. Often, he is joined by special friends like Louie from the St. Louis Blues. The Fire Truck O’ Toys team has impacted countless families and has helped make the holidays even brighter.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on the holiday festivities, but that didn’t stop Fire Truck O’ Toys from spreading holiday cheer. The team managed to collect and deliver an entire truckload of toys to the hospital ahead of the holiday season, helping ensure that our patients and families could celebrate the season despite the unusual circumstances of 2020.

We are grateful to Kenzie, her family and Fire Truck O’ Toys for their decade of support to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon. Their generosity and compassion have brought countless smiles to the faces of children in need, and we can’t wait to see Santa and his firetruck visit our hospital again soon.

Santa, Kenzie (center) and Fire Truck O’ Toys visit to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon in December 2019

Benefit Roast for Cardinal Glennon Kids

The Cardinal Glennon Benefit Roast produced by First Crack Coffee Steven Burghart, President of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon enjoys his new morning blend

First Crack Coffee has partnered with SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital to produce the Cardinal Glennon Benefit Roast. The coffee is a medium roast with notes of citrus, cocoa and sweet aroma. Available in both whole bean and ground, the coffee is locally roasted and distributed. Patrons can purchase a bag online or at local grocery stores like Straubs, Schnucks, Dierbergs and even in the gift shop at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon! A portion of each bag sold benefits the hospital.

The team at First Crack is dedicated to giving back to the communities they serve. They hope to continue the Benefit Roast program as long as possible. There is even talk of changing up the recipe in the future! Be sure to check the coffee aisle next time you go grocery shopping!

SendAFriend — Thor

Since 2019, Thor the facility dog has been a superhero to the patients at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Now, thanks to a local company, his story is being shared around the country... one stuffed animal at a time.

SendAFriend is based in Jackson, Mo., and enables customers to send a plush friend to loved ones.. Part of their mission includes donating 10% of their total monthly sales to various children’s hospitals and in April 2020, they donated more than $30,000 to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon. However, after that initial donation, they had an idea. What if they created a stuffed version of the most popular four-legged employee at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon?

In November, Thor’s doppelganger was ready for its big debut, and it came with some extra exciting news. SendAFriend announced that not only would 10% of all Thor sales be donated back to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, but for each one sold, a plush Thor will be donated to the hospital to be handed out to patients. More than 1,000 Thor stuffed animals have already been donated, allowing Thor and the Child Life Team to provide patients with a special memento from their time working together.

We are so grateful to SendAFriend for their support of our patients and look forward to continuing this special partnership.

Want to send a Thor to someone special? Visit sendafriend.co to learn more.

Glennon Kid Addilyn with plush Thor

Thankful Threads

Thankful Threads launched earlier this year as a way to creatively engage the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital community while giving back to the hospital. Alivia and Ryan Kraft, grateful parents and owners of the boutique Laree and Co., dreamed up the concept in honor of their daughter, Lilian. Born with Trisomy 18, an extra chromosome resulting in developmental abnormalities, Lilian has undergone several surgeries at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon and is a regular patient adored by staff.

Thankful Threads is a celebration of t-shirt design submissions from anyone with a personal connection to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon. Five final t-shirt designs are voted on via Cardinal Glennon’s Facebook page and the shirt design that receives the most votes is made available for purchase! Alivia and her family handle the printing and online fulfillment of the shirt orders, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the hospital to help other kids at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon.

Our first winning design comes all the way from the Philippines! Sixteen-year-old Andrei’s connection to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon is his grandmother, our very own Oly Datu, who works as a concierge in the Same Day Surgery waiting room. Oly moved from the Philippines to the United States in 2013. Her two children, nine grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren remain in the Philippines, including the very talented Andrei.

You could be our next winner! Submit your design online for the next Thankful Threads t-shirt before June 18, 2021, at glennon.org/thankful-threads.

Andrei, creator of the winning design Oly Datu, Andrel’s grandmother and Glennon employee

Sodexo Hosted Employee Raffle Fundraiser

When people walk through the doors of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, they see the love and compassion our caregivers display for our patients as well as each other. This year, Sodexo, the food service partner of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, hosted an employee raffle fundraiser to benefit the Children’s Fund, which supports the areas of greatest need within our own hospital. The fundraiser included 36 department-created, themed baskets, a 65” Smart TV donated by our friends at Tech Electronics, a raffle for a prime parking spot and the ability to purchase a ‘Jeans Card.’ Additionally, employees volunteered for onehour shifts during the three-week raffle-selling period. The special fundraiser raised more than $8,000 for the Children’s Fund. Thank you so much to our friends, both inside our hospital walls and out, for always going above and beyond to support us!

Kim Eighmey and Aimee Riethmeier join the many Glennon employees who volunteered to sell raffle tickets Cardinal Glennon patient Gabby draws the winning ticket for a Smart TV donated by Tech Electronics

Celebrities Giving Back

St. Louis Cardinal and Homers for Health Co-Chair Matt Carpenter (1, 2) as well as St. Louis native Andy Cohen (3, 4) screened in to say hello to patients and families.

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Cardinal Glennon

gets National Exposure!

SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital got national recognition thanks to the daytime talk show, The Tamron Hall Show! Tamron had a special show in December honoring and surprising health care workers, along with a few very special Cardinal Glennon patients! The show aired across the country and was a great opportunity to show the amazing work happening at our hospital.

The two patients featured on the show, Barry and Zendaiya, were able to chat directly with Tamron on her show and Tamron was overwhelmed by their strength and courage. Since they would be staying in the hospital over Christmas, Tamron decided to brighten their holidays by giving each patient some of the season’s hottest toys!

Tamron didn’t stop Tamron Hall Show there — she collected over $20,000 worth of toys from a variety of toy companies and had them all delivered to our hospital to be given to patients through the year.

Scan the QR Code to watch our special coverage on the Tamron Hall Show.

UPDATE Spring/Summer 2020 Issue

Anna Breen with son Casey

Casey today

Since Spring of 2020, when we featured Mighty Casey and the GIRAF team at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, Casey and his family have moved back to Alabama to be closer to family. Casey’s mom, Anna Breen, says, “It has helped out tremendously, although I still miss Glennon! I have been to a lot of children’s hospitals by now and just have to say that Glennon truly is a special place.” Casey’s specialist at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, Dr. Nisha Mangalat, referred Casey and his family to Dr. Galloway at Children’s of Alabama. Mrs. Breen has maintained some contact with her GIRAF team here and hopes to visit St. Louis and her Glennon team when the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a concern. Casey still receives IV feedings, but is weaning off slowly. He is off two nights a week and they are hoping to take off even more soon. Mrs. Breen comments, “He is a happy, bright and curious little boy now and enjoys being spoiled rotten by his grandparents here in Alabama!”

2021 UPCOMING EVENTS

Join us at one of our many annual events or programs. Please visit glennon.org for more details!

Glennon Sunday

Glennon Sunday June 6, 2021 Glennon Golf Classic September 10, 2021

Glennon Gallop September 18, 2021

SunRun October 10, 2021

Presented in partnership with Columbia Golf Club

A 30 Year Tradition

Wine, Dine and Divots | A White Hot A air

Saturday, September 13

GATES OPEN AT 3:00 P.M. | KRÄFTIG POLO CLUB

Dierdorf Pronger Golf Classic October 11, 2021

Glennon Card October 15-24, 2021 Giving Tuesday Hospital Holiday Lighting November 30, 2021

4 ober 15-2 Oct

SAVE 20% SAVE 20%

Glennon CardGlennon Card

2021