VC Notes Archive
Office of the Vice Chancellor
Friday, June 10, 2022
From Big Idea to Celebration
Good morning!
Last Tuesday, we hosted an event in the Sanderson Tower that was both nostalgic and celebratory. It was a time to get excited about reaching (and eclipsing) a monumental fundraising goal and to reflect on the journey.
But let me take you back further than just a few days ago.
On December 2, 2015, I was in a car headed to Laurel with Dr. Dan Jones, former chancellor of the University of Mississippi and former UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs, and Dr. Jimmy Keeton, who preceded me as UMMC’s vice chancellor. Most of you already know who we were going to see as soon as I mentioned Laurel. We were on our way to chat with one of Mississippi’s best, Joe Sanderson. When the three of us loaded up for that drive, I considered it to be the start of a journey that would become one of this Medical Center’s greatest highlights.
We brought with us a big idea, and we knew that the best person to give it any chance of fruition was Joe Sanderson. It was time for a major expansion of our children’s hospital so we could care for more Mississippi kids who need advanced, specialty services – but it was going to take a lot of money to do it. I mean a LOT of money, and we would need a LOT of help to get there.
Luckily, Joe never stopped us while we were making our pitch. He was interested from the start and was ready to make his own case for our big idea to Kathy Sanderson, his wife. She was in. They got first-hand experience several years ago of how important access to a children’s hospital is when their own granddaughter needed treatment here.
Kathy and Joe were ready to put their full support behind a major fundraising campaign to build a new pediatric tower and even agreed to serve as campaign chairs. With them leading the way, we were off and running.
It was determined that the expansion of children’s health care services Mississippi needed was a new tower at the lofty price tag of $180 million. And to be able to get there, we would need to raise private funds of $100 million. One hundred million dollars! That’s a lot of money, and a much larger project than anything we’d ever done before.
It was a little scary, but my belief in Kathy and Joe made me feel better. I felt we could do this. And when Joe let us know that they would personally make a $10 million commitment to get the campaign started, I KNEW we could do it.
Kathy and Joe, and co-chairs Abby and Eli Manning, would be the flag-bearers on a dynamic, dedicated and high-powered steering committee. They personally gave to support this campaign and they asked others for gifts. Friends of Children’s Hospital was also there from the beginning and made the largest pledge, $20 million. Many important leaders in our state (and even some who have little or no ties to Mississippi) would play a role in this massive project. During Tuesday’s event, I called all of these people an “army,” because that’s exactly what they were: an army with a sole mission to help Mississippi’s kids.
Mississippians are known for their generosity. Through gifts big and small (I loved hearing about the lemonade stands and bake sales), this army, with support from the Office of Development, would lead us to our goal and even surpass it. On Tuesday, I was excited to announce that we have raised $101.5 million!
I don’t remember what Dan, Jimmy and I chatted about on the drive to or from Laurel that day in 2015, but I’m sure that whatever we thought would be the outcome, we’ve far exceeded it. I’m so amazed at the compassion and generosity of the thousands of people who donated to the campaign.
The final gift that took us over our goal was a generous $2.5 million contribution from the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation. This foundation is one of Mississippi’s most thoughtful organizations, and we are honored they want to be a part of the next generation of pediatric care in Mississippi. When foundation representatives Cheryle and Stephen Sims and John Lewis on Tuesday revealed a ceremonial check showing the gift amount, the excitement in the room was palpable. We were celebrating this compassionate gift and the overall achievement in a room of the very building we’d worked for more than six years to make a reality– even with a pandemic in the middle.
The list of people deserving thanks is far too long to share here, but I especially want to thank Dr. Mary Taylor, chair of pediatrics, Guy Giesecke, CEO of Children’s of Mississippi, and Meredith Aldridge, executive director of development, and their teams for their tireless work to get us past our goal.
Since opening in November 2020, the
Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower
has seen more than 167,000 interactions with children. Many receive life-saving care so that they’re able to go home and just be a kid.
This is the kind of impact that was a part of our big idea, and it’s amazing that it’s now a reality. This is a beautiful example of how each and every day we are working toward A Healthier Mississippi.
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