Current and former patients of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt walked the runway alongside professional models at the annual Friends & Fashion event at Music City Center April 9.

A reindeer, polar bears and an ice skater are among the artistic creations adorning products available through the annual Gifts from Friends Holiday Project benefiting patients and families at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

The Friends of Children’s Hospital, an organization of volunteers who support Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, has made its largest single gift — $1 million over three years — to be split between two Children’s Hospital programs: the Program for Children with Medically Complex Needs and Pediatric Cancer.

Gingerbread paper dolls, snowmen and a scarf-sporting Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are among the artistic creations adorning products available through the annual Holiday Project benefiting patients and families at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

At 6 feet 4 inches, Shea Weber towers over the tiny tots he visits at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, yet it is he who looks up to them.

For more than 40 years, a group of dedicated volunteers known as the Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has worked to turn scary hospital visits into happier memories.

The first word that Jessica Meyer thought of was “hope.” She and her friend, Alexandra, had just sat down with some paper and a box of crayons to spend an hour or so drawing holiday cards in between appointments at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.