Hope

There are moments of your life that have a way of putting things in perspective and make you count your blessings and give you hope. That's what this weekend was for me. I have the pleasure of working with my college students to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This is my fourth year being the advisor and I think it's my favorite aspect of my job. From the minute I learned about this hospital, I was a supporter and will be an advocate for the rest of my life. St. Jude is a place of hope for children with life threatening illnesses. The research that takes place is groundbreaking and inspiring. The people that work there are all heart.
Like I said, I am the advisor to the St. Jude fundraising group at the school I work at. Each year the students and staff write letters to their friends and families to raise money for the hospital. We do side events (car washes, selling pom poms, etc) to raise money as well. Over the past few years we've raised over $50, 000. And colleges across the country are doing the same thing. It's because it takes over one million dollars a day to operate the hospital and patients there are not asked to pay for the treatment. So as a part of this responsibility of being the advisor at my college, St. Jude pays for me and a student to attend the collegiate seminar each summer. So I spent my weekend in Memphis, TN at the seminar and touring the hospital. This was my third time attending and I'm so happy I got to be there once again.

I know that some of you saw my pictures on facebook but I wanted to make sure I give a little tour of the hospital for those of you just stopping by this blog to see how wonderful St. Jude truly is. (These pictures are not really in any sort of order--I couldn't get it to work they way I wanted.)

The St. Jude campus. It was VERY hot that day but it was so beautiful out.
This is the reception area for the Chili's Care Center (the reception desk is a boat called the Hope Boat)The ABC's of Cancer--patients wrote poetry for the letters of the alphabet and they have it displayed. I just bought the book of it because it's so sweet. The hospital is filled with color and cheer and artwork of the patients.

The window in the interfaith chapel. It's so pretty in this room and so peaceful.
Courtney (our St. Jude representative) with me and Emily (the student leader of our group)

The new Rehab services center

This artwork makes my heart smile when I look at it. These kids are amazing! I love that they feature the kids work throughout the hospital.

The research tower. This is where doctors are working to find ways to treat the illnesses. And I want to make note that the doctors eat in the cafeteria along side the patients, families and visitors daily. There is no separation because they all have the same goal--to make sick kids better.

Danny Thomas is the founder of St. Jude and when he passed away there were a lot of comic in his honor around the country. This is the wall with all of them featured.

The Teen Room. Only patients and siblings between 13-19 are allowed to come in. And if a patient is too sick to be there, they can tune in from their hospital room to see what their friends are up to. Also, St. Jude puts on a prom for patients so that they don't have to miss that experience. I love that!

There are NO white walls in this hospital. Every wall is so bright and cheerful. This was one of my favorites because she has red hair. :)

Emily and I with a statue of Danny Thomas in the research tower.

Courtney and I waiting to tour the hospital. She's so cute! We are lucky to have had some good reps to work with.

Our tour group going through. The walls are so bright and pretty!

This is great--when the family comes to St. Jude the desks are low so that the child is the one that talks to the receptionist about their treatment. It's just so thoughtful!

St. Jude statue outside the front doors.

It was amazing to go again! I truly believe in St. Jude and think that the people that work there are wonderful and inspirational people. I know that I can not do this wonderful place justice, but I hope that I can at least give a snapshot of the good work of St. Jude. We got to hear from patient families about their experience and that was so moving. They are thankful for everything that St. Jude does for them. It's impossible for me not to cry while I'm there. But I never cry because I'm sad. I cry because I'm so touched by the stories and the people. I'm so thankful for St. Jude for working to save children and for giving me an opportunity to be a supporter of such a great cause.