You won’t see ‘Kids Day’ newspapers on street corners Tuesday. Here’s a way to still donate
A scaled-down version of the major fundraising event for Valley Children’s Hospital will still happen Tuesday after a cancellation of original plans last week, hospital officials announced Monday.
The annual Kids Day fundraiser, which sends nearly 8,000 volunteers to street corners across the central San Joaquin Valley to sell a special edition of The Fresno Bee, was pulled last week out of caution over the novel coronavirus. This year, donations will be accepted digitally. To contribute, residents can text GEORGE to 20222 to make an automatic $10 donation. Another option is to visit valleychildrens.org/kidsday and choose to give any amount, starting at $1.
“Traditions are important in this Valley and it is clear, from the overwhelming support and encouragement we have received from across our communities that our Kids Day tradition is important to the children we care for,” Todd Suntrapak, Valley Children’s President and CEO, said in a statement Monday announcing the changes to this year’s fundraising effort.
Before canceling the in-person fundraising event, Valley Children’s officials also reported changes to visitation and operations at their facilities. That included an evaluation of events sponsored by the hospital.
Health officials have encouraged residents to maintain safe distances from others and take steps to prevent flu-like symptoms that are associated with the virus. The coronavirus has been deadly for more than 3,000 people globally. Outbreaks have been reported in different parts of the country.
The online options to donate to the hospital are available each year during the street fundraising efforts. Special Kids Day stories produced this year by reporters will be at fresnobee.com and at abc30.com.
Sponsored by The Fresno Bee and ABC30, Kids Day has raised more than $9.8 million since 1987. Over $634,000 of that was raised last year.
In 2019, the Valley Children’s Healthcare System fielded 305,725 outpatient visits, 108,335 emergency room visits and performed 21,781 surgeries.
For several years in a row, Valley Children’s Hospital has ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report. Five departments were recognized for their outstanding care: pediatric diabetes and endocrinology, pediatric gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, neonatology, pediatric orthopedics, and urology.
Here are just a few ways Valley Children’s is meeting its goal of providing care to anyone in its 12-county service area:
▪ In 2019, it opened two specialty care centers in the Valley: the Pelandale Specialty Care Center in Modesto and a joint medical center with Adventist Health in Fowler. Plans to replace existing centers in Visalia and Merced and add another in Fresno are underway.
▪ Scheduled to open in 2022 is an 86,000-square-foot, 128-bed behavioral health hospital on the Madera campus. It will bring 250 jobs to Madera County and provide behavioral services for children 5 to 17 years old, as well as adults and seniors.
▪ The hospital has the only level IV epilepsy center in the region, a designation it earned in 2019. Its new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit uses cameras to monitor kids as they move about, ensuring they are not bed-ridden while receiving care.
