Be sure to join us for our 37th annual Kids Day on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. We are thrilled to bring back the Kids Day edition newspaper! Filled with inspiring stories, you will find our volunteers "selling" the paper at a suggested donation of $2 throughout the Central Valley. The community can also donate online or they can text to give. If you would like to join our team of volunteers, go to valleychildrens.org/KidsDay or call 559-353-7100.

Tremendous thanks to our wonderful Kids Day sponsors! Your generosity has already made this year's Kids Day extraordinary, and the event hasn't even happened yet!

Recently we had a very special check presentation with Spirit Halloween in the Valley Children's Guilds Hall of Fame to celebrate their remarkable fundraising milestone. Since 2008, Spirit Halloween has raised an incredible $1,097,052 for Valley Children's to support Child Life, including a 2023 in-store campaign total of $140,872! 

Our check presentation was followed by a celebration with members of local Spirit Halloween stores, Child Life team members and some of our patients and their families. Patients got to take pictures with George, enjoy some refreshments, make crafts and play some games. 

Spirit Halloween Stores and The Spirit of Children program’s mission is to make hospitals less scary for children and their families through support of the Child Life Department. This year, we had 11 Central Valley stores participate through an in-store campaign. Thank you, Spirit Halloween, for helping us make a difference in so many patients' lives. 

Valley Children’s Hospital is incredibly grateful for all of our Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) corporate partners and their contribution to helping us serve the kids in our community. We’d like to highlight some of the wonderful fundraising achievements of these partners and programs and share some of their impressive 2023 totals:

• Costco $923,989
• Panda Express $627,615
• Walmart and Sam's Club $537,615
• ACE Hardware $131,974
• Kiwanis $42,145
• Credit Union for Kids $59,783
• 7-Eleven $42,746
• Love’s Travel Stops $25,828
• McLane $23,202
• Knight-Swift Transportation $19,447
• Chevron $12,900

We appreciate the continued support and valued partnerships of RE/MAX, JOANN Fabrics, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Dairy Queen, GameStop and many more CMNH partner locations throughout the Central Valley. A big thank you to all CMN Hospital partners for miracles happen every day at Valley Children’s Hospital!

We were recently honored to host the incredible team at U.S. Cold Storage for a check presentation. The Western Division of U.S. Cold Storage raised more than $66,000 for the Children's Fund at Valley Children's in their 2023 "Connect for a Cause" campaign, during which they combined an employee giving campaign with fundraising efforts such as their 2023 golf tournament.

Foundation Board Emeritus Bill Smittcamp addressed the group, thanking them on behalf of Valley Children's and his company, Wawona Foods. Rod Noll, Regional Vice President for U.S. Cold Storage also spoke, highlighting the dedication of the team under Chris Halsted's coordinating efforts.

Since 2020, U.S. Cold Storage has given more than $250,000 to Valley Children's. Thank you, U.S. Cold Storage, for the way you are making a difference in the lives of Central Valley kids!

We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded one of The Toy Foundation's Hospital Play grants for 2023. This grant of more than $20,000 will go towards a Sensory Center in the Child Life playroom at Valley Children's Hospital.

The Toy Foundation is the philanthropic arm of The Toy Association, the industry's voice on the developmental benefits of play through their Genius of Play initiative. The Toy Foundation's Play Grants program is focused on delivering the extraordinary physical, emotional and educational benefits of play to all children in need, including at children’s hospitals which serve disadvantaged communities and respond to emergency situations. The Toy Foundation has helped improve pediatric care for 360,000 children since 2021 and impacted countless more children internationally.

The new sensory center will help children with various sensory issues benefit from play that is more adapted to their needs. We are so grateful to The Toy Foundation and to the members of our Valley Children's Healthcare Foundation team who keep their eyes out for opportunities like this, so that we can always be improving the quality of our care for every patient.

This is the second grant Valley Children's has been awarded from The Toy Foundation. The first was in 2021, a $25,000 grant that went toward the remodeling of our wonderful back lawn playground at our Madera campus (pictured above). 

Recently through our work with U.S.Cold Storage, we met Nicole Kopas. When Nicole was 13, she had lingering symptoms of a cold. When a lump near her collarbone began to grow and feel tender, her mother took her to urgent care. She remembers that visit very well, because she noticed her mom crying in the hallway as she spoke to the urgent care doctor. The doctor sent Nicole and her mom directly to Valley Children's, where a team was waiting for her. Within 24 hours, Nicole had surgery, a port installed and a rare pediatric diagnosis of stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Over the next three years, Nicole went through two rounds of treatment at Valley Children's. She remembers going to a new school for her freshman year with no hair due to her chemotherapy treatments. She felt angry, out of place and scared, sometimes spending lunchtimes in the restroom. For the end of her junior year in high school she had to do independent study, remembering it as the toughest time of her treatment. In spite of the trials, she and her family felt loved and cared for at Valley Children's. In the 2006 Kids Day paper, Nicole's mom shares how the Hospital made them feel at home, allowing them to stay in the same room and watching Gilmore Girls together. They remember their nurses, especially Kimmy, who gave Nicole the best care. "The love and care in those rooms is incredible," recalls Nicole.

On her 17th birthday in 2008, Nicole received her final treatment of chemotherapy. Nicole graduated and went to Reedley College, where she met her husband. Today they have four beautiful, healthy children. Three years ago she began working at U.S. Cold Storage, where she currently serves as the Operations Manager for the Fresno site. When U.S. Cold Storage came in to Valley Children's in February for a check presentation and a tour, we made sure their tour was of the Oncology Department for Nicole. "It was so full circle for me," said Nicole.

What would Nicole want to tell her younger self as someone just entering the frightening world of pediatric cancer? "You are beautiful!" 

"Stay strong," says Nicole. "Believe in your faith. There's an end to this - just remember to stay true to who you are."

The 10th annual An Evening of Inspiration gala benefiting Valley Children's Adaptive Sports will be held Saturday, March 9 at 5:30 p.m. in downtown Fresno. Click here for event and ticket information.

Chevron is holding their Children's Miracle Network Hospitals campaign this month! Throughout the month of March, be sure to stop by participating Chevron locations and support Valley Children's!

Ace Hardware begins their Spring Round Up campaign for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals on April 1. Support Valley Children's by stopping by your local Ace Hardware in April!

Mark your calendars for Extra Life's Tabletop Gaming Weekend, April 12-14, 2024! There are so many ways to have fun for a great cause. Learn more at Extra-life.org