Baby Ray and Robin
The Center for Families
THE CENTER FOR FAMILIES
The Center for Families (the Center) provides collaborative, compassionate, and supportive family resources to help families navigate their healthcare experience. Thanks to your gifts, St. Louis Children’s provides wraparound services that support patients and families every step of the way.
The Center—100% funded by generous donations—is open 24/7, 365 days a year to help families navigate their healthcare journey. Offering comfort, compassion, and practical support, the Center truly feels like a “home away from home.”
Families can access grab-and-go snacks, hot coffee, clothing, toiletries, phone chargers, and laundry supplies. A quiet room, iPads, a business center, and notary services help them manage daily needs while staying at the hospital.
The Center also connects families with trusted medical information, support groups, and health education resources. Lifesaving infant CPR classes and take-home kits ensure families leave empowered and prepared.
In 2024 alone, thousands of families—many traveling hours for specialized care—relied on the Center’s resources. With growing demand, donor support ensures the Center can continue meeting families where they are, reducing stress during some of life’s hardest moments.
THE CENTER FOR FAMILIES—BY THE NUMBERS 2024
119,662
visits to the Center for Families
snacks and beverages provided 45,613 times quiet/rest area was utilized
18,781 showers taken
loads of laundry done
7,366 toiletries distributed
3,249
5,468 take-home meals supplied
400
“The Center for Families at St. Louis Children’s Hospital was a wonderful retreat from our dayto-day hospital life,” Michele said. “Our stay at St. Louis Children’s was five months long. I only stayed the night at home once, so having a place to shower and do laundry was such a blessing for us. The staff became a huge part of our stay and meant so much to us. It became part of our nightly routine, going to visit, laugh, joke, and talk about our lives outside of the hospital. It was a bit of an escape from our ‘new hospital life.’ In a time when we could not see our friends and family, the Center for Families created a space where you did not feel so alone and could get a muchneeded ‘break.’”
— Michele, Gavin’s mom
“For nine months, St. Louis Children’s Hospital was our second home. The Center for Families at St. Louis Children’s made sure the stay was a pleasant one: frequent check-ins from staff, meeting other parents with children experiencing hardships, a quiet space with no IV pumps, endless snacks, access to technology to handle business issues, a washroom to support the long days and so much more. I watched staff embrace parents on their hardest days.
Parents are scared when their child is admitted to the hospital and this room provides resources that make one of the toughest times a little bit easier.” — Kirsten, Harlem’s
mom
“The Center for Families provided not only material necessities, it also provided us with a place to feel normal and like a family unit. It is a place we can bring our non-medically complicated children to be with their little brother and feel comfortable.”