At their 40th anniversary celebration in September, the Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt announced a $1 million commitment to combat prematurity.
Tennessee currently ranks 41st in the nation in premature birth rates. Each year, more than 11,500 infants in the state are born too soon. The group’s gift benefits the Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital Prematurity Fund, with the goal of impacting the care of and cures for prematurity.
“We saw a place in the hospital where the dollars we have raised could make a real difference in the groundbreaking research going on within our hospital,” said Friends president Carolyn Thombs. “To have our name supporting this work is really meaningful, especially for the founding women and other members who have come before and worked so hard through these 40 years. I know they would be very proud of this endowment.”
“The Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is an embodiment of generous personal acts and longstanding philanthropy,” said Luke Gregory, chief executive officer for Children’s Hospital.
“Beyond their generous philanthropy, the organization has touched hundreds of thousands of lives over the past four decades. Each and every day, our patients and their families, as well as the entire surrounding community, continue to be richly enhanced by the efforts of Friends.”
– by Leslie Hill