A fund for fun
Transportation Club gives kids a boost during their hospital stay
A hospital stay can be a tough time for children and their families. For close to eight decades, members of the Transportation Club of Minneapolis & St. Paul have been trying to make it easier by giving their time and money to the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital.
"They're a wonderful group—I can't say enough about them," says Diana Huseth, UMCH director of volunteer services. "They're just very caring and loving people who want to make a difference in the lives of our patients and families, and they do."
For nearly a decade, the Transportation Club, a nonprofit organization made up of members of the transportation community in Minnesota, has been hosting monthly parties for patients to ease the stress of their hospital stay and help them feel like a part of a caring community. The club also uses proceeds from its fundraisers to buy gifts to cheer children hospitalized over the holidays and donates volunteer time to wrap them. Its funds also supply hospital playrooms and lounges with toys and other items.
Last fall the Transportation Club took the remarkable step of expanding its support with a five-year, $95,000 pledge.
"Parties are great, but the day after, it's all gone," says club president Tom Krieger. "[This money] will be spent on bigger-ticket items for the kids to enjoy for a long time."
Although it's still under consideration, the new gift may be used to support the hospital's Child-Family Life Services efforts to help patients and their siblings understand what's happening to them, or it may be used to enhance art and music therapy offerings.
Child-Family Life Services program manager Tim Knaeble says the new gift will be a big boost in helping kids be kids during their hospital stay. "We feel really fortunate to be working with the Transportation Club," he says. "To have some ongoing support like this opens a lot of new doors ... Their hearts are so big."
To learn how you can support Child-Family Life Services at the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, contact development officer Joslyn Biever at 612-273-8591 or j.biever@mmf.umn.edu.
