2019 / 2020
CHARITY EVENTS
Basket Extravaganza Jacksonville 2019
On Friday evening, October 4th, over 200 people gathered at the First Baptist Church- downtown Jacksonville for our 2019 Basket Extravaganza. As usual, Chef Greg Bazemore and his incredibly talented team served up an unbelievably delicious steak and shrimp dinner. The meal was amazing.
Our silent auction had over 240 items donated by area businesses who very unselfishly support our work at Wolfson Children’s Hospital along with the children’s hospitals at Arnold Palmer in Orlando, and St. Joseph’s in Tampa. Our guests had the opportunity to bid on over $26,000 of items and we raised over $15,000. A lot of our guests walked away with some great deals!
The funds raised, kicked off our 13th annual Christmas present project at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and will support our work in the two outlying hospitals where we have no fundraisers in Orlando and Tampa.
Thank you to all our volunteers, partners, sponsors, donors, and First Baptist Church for your support of our work. Please know you are making a difference in Christ’s name. Please join us in 2020 and God bless.
CHRISTMAS 2019
Wolfson Children’s Hospital
Our team arrived at Wolfson Children’s Hospital on 10:00am on Monday, December 23rd, to deliver over 4,000 presents. These included bags stuffed to the brim with toys for 194 children which were sorted and labeled for NICU babies, infants, toddlers, teens, special needs, and behavioral health patients. In addition to the gift bags, boxes and boxes of toys were donated to the hospital to fill their toy room for future use. The toys are used as distraction devices for children undergoing scary procedures, to brighten a bad day, or for a child who has a birthday while in the hospital. The toy donation was made possible with the partnership of many area businesses and generous individuals.
Pat Kirkland, manager of child life specialist, and her team met us and our myriad of volunteers to unload this treasure trove of gifts. Many thanks to the following organizations: Atlantic Self Storage, Pepsi, RPM Automotive, NAPA Auto Parts, Adrienne Michelle’s Salon, Candy at the Beaches, Taylor Church, Chick-Fil-A, United Rentals, and many individual donors.
Many thanks also to our individual leaders including Becky Lahey, Chad Corbitt, Ann White, Wendy Updegraff, Julie Gump, Mike Jenkins, and Heidi and Brittany Raulerson.
Our Lord Jesus has truly blessed us with the opportunity to put a smile on so many children’s faces on Christmas Day at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Praise the Lord!
Wolfson Children’s Hospital Dialysis Department-
A Christmas party was held on December 3rd, at the Jacksonville Zoo. Carldon arrived with gift bags for nine children who were currently undergoing dialysis treatment. The gifts were chosen from each child’s wish list that was provided by the department. We would like to thank Jack Brown at Chick-fil-A, Andrew and Kelly D’Acunto, and a grant from the Jim Jacobs Foundation for funding this year’s gifts.
Brunswick, GA
– On Monday, December 23rd, several child life specialists from the Wolfson Children’s Hospital affiliate in Brunswick, GA met us at the Pepsi warehouse in Jacksonville and picked up over 300 presents to take back to the children in Brunswick. Many thanks to the representatives from Brunswick for driving down before 7 o’clock on a Monday morning to pick up these gifts to brighten a child’s day.
Arnold Palmer - Orlando
– On Tuesday, December 17th, Carldon loaded his vehicle with over 400 gifts for 144 premature babies in the NICU at Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital. It is our understanding that Arnold Palmer has the largest NICU unit in the United States. Carldon met with numerous child life specialists, social workers, and volunteers at the hospital to build 144 bags, each containing a teddy bear, a blanket, and a Baby’s First Christmas ornament. Once the bags were put together, the parents came in and chose a bag for their child. We pray these items will be a prized possession for a baby who spent their first Christmas in the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital. Many thanks to the outpouring of support we get a Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital.
Indiana Children’s Hospitals
On Friday, December 13th, our Indiana team met at Wicks Pies offsite location in Winchester, IN to load up presents to be delivered to three children’s hospitals located in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, IN, a five hour round trip. After loading approximately 1,000 presents for children at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, we headed to Indianapolis. We met the child life specialists and social workers to deliver gifts for 65 deserving children. We then drove to a different section of the hospital and delivered 100 bags for NICU babies consisting of a bear, a blanket, and a Baby’s First Christmas ornament.
After delivering the presents to Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, we headed to Fort Wayne, IN to meet representatives from Lutheran’s Children’s Hospital. Our Fort Wayne leaders, Tom and Vicky Spurling, greeted us at the hospital. We delivered well over 1,000 presents to 39 children, 24 NICU babies, and eight children in the PICU. Many thanks to the amazing support we get in Winchester, IN supporting the children as well as our partners in Fort Wayne, IN. You guys do an amazing job!
Earlier in the month, Chip Loney delivered presents to Riley Children’s Hospital for the dialysis children and kids in the rehabilitation unit. We delivered presents for approximately 40 children.
11th ANNUAL CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT-JACKSONVILLE, FL
In March, our 11th annual charity golf tournament at Palencia Country Club raised over $34,000, which was $10,000 more than 2019. The next week, our country began shutting down. If our golf event had been scheduled 10 days later, it would have been postponed or canceled. Interesting…….
We had 126 golfers tee it up for the kids at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. It was an amazing day of golf, fun, fellowship, great food, great speakers, and incredible silent auction.
Our guest speakers at dinner that evening included Pat Kirkland, child life specialist manager, Jim Hutcheson, social worker, and Mike Aubin, president of Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Jim White, who is our leader at Palencia, emceed at dinner and we would like to say “thank you” to all our Palencia partners. You guys and gals make it happen!
Many thanks to well over 100 donors for our silent auction event who donated over $25,000 of items. A special thank you to our 2020 sponsors including: Hanania Automotive Group, Pepsi, Chick-Fil-A, Bonefish Grill, Laino & Associates, RPM Automotive, Matthew’s Restaurant, Golf Carts of St. Augustine, Tropical Smoothie, Raymond and Donna Bateh, Ford Sheet Metal, Inc, Wood, Atter and Woolf, PA, Pat Long and Cary Handley, Jim White Insurance, Hala Middle East Bakery, Adrienne Michelle’s Salon and Spa, the Lahey Family, Sign-a-rama, A Nonni Moose, and Airko.
Please know we could not do the tournament without our donors and sponsors. God bless you all!
