Twice as Bright doubles April gifts to Children's campaign

Published on Monday, April 12, 2021

By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu

Children grow quickly, and so do gifts to the Campaign for Children's of Mississippi during the month of April.

Thanks to the Madison Charitable Foundation, a Texas nonprofit that supports children’s health, every gift to the campaign will be doubled this month, up to $100,000. The drive, Twice as Bright, is aimed at completing the funding of the seven-story children's hospital expansion at Children’s of Mississippi that opened Nov. 2, 2020.

"We’re already seeing the difference the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower has made for children and families in Mississippi,” said Meredith Aldridge, executive director of development at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “Since the opening of this state-of-the-art pediatric hospital tower, thousands of children have received the care needed to thrive.”

Children’s of Mississippi is the pediatric branch of UMMC that includes the state’s only children’s hospital as well as specialty care clinics around the state.

The Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi is the philanthropic drive to help fund the Sanderson Tower’s construction. Since 2016, the campaign has raised more than $87 million of the $100 million project that has more than doubled the square-footage devoted to pediatric care at the Medical Center.

"The generosity of Mississippians and the love they have for children is incredible,” Aldridge said. “Gifts of all sizes from around the state have made the opening of the Sanderson Tower possible, and we look forward to reaching the campaign’s $100 million goal.”

Donations to the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi can be made online or by texting DOUBLE to 243725 throughout April. A Twice as Bright drive-through event set for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 29, will feature COVID-safe in-person giving.

During the event, donors can drive to the Sanderson Tower, located along Woodrow Wilson Drive on the Medical Center campus. Banners and balloons will line the driveway to the tower, and the first 75 donors of the day will receive gift bags from Children’s of Mississippi.

The Sanderson Tower is a complement to Children's of Mississippi's Batson Tower, which has been caring for Mississippi’s children since 1997.

Included in the Sanderson Tower are 88 private neonatal intensive care rooms where parents can stay with their babies as they grow, 32 private pediatric intensive care rooms, a dozen state-of-the-art surgical suites and a pediatric imaging center. The tower also features a multidisciplinary outpatient specialty clinic with a parking garage conveniently close.

Since the opening of the tower, hundreds of neonatal and pediatric intensive care patients have received care there, and thousands of surgeries, lab tests and imaging procedures have been performed.

“The addition of the Sanderson Tower is transformative,” said Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair, professor and chair of pediatrics. “Every day, we are seeing the advances in the Sanderson Tower improve children’s health. Gifts to the Campaign for Children's of Mississippi are creating a brighter future for our children.”