Thanks and Telephones... Visiting Sponsors and Cardinal Glennon

Last weekend, we Gateway girls were treated to a "Gateway Weekend." What does that mean, you ask? One jam packed weekend with our amazing directors, board members, sponsors, and kiddos at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital!

The start of a fun visit!

YUM!! We decided to take a break with some shakes!!

Morgan, Jillian, and I (Charlee wasn't on Spring Break and had to go to school) first visited Cardinal Glennon. This busy Children's Hospital was bustling with the current flu season, but we remained hopeful that the kiddos wanted to come out and celebrate St Patrick's Day with us. Thanks to Gary and Mal, we had tons of seasonal crafts, including picture frames and door hangers. Unfortunately, many of the kids felt a little too sick to come and play with us. But, we did get one amazing little girl, who taught us how to use the telephone. :)

Thanks, Ashlee, child life coordinator at Cardinal Glennon.

Then, it was sponsor time! Gateway is such a blessed program to have so many wonderful and supportive sponsors. Among them are these companies that have been sponsors for YEARS (most since Gateway started!)!! The three of us had a great time visiting Service Metal Products, St Louis Skin Solutions, and Steak N' Shake. It was so great meeting them and thanking them in person for their commitment to helping girls like us not only achieve their dreams, but also help impact St Louis and Missouri along with their companies.

Thank you, St Louis Skin Solutions

The girls and I presented certificates of appreciation to all our sponsors

Thank you, Service Metal Products

Thank you, Steak N' Shake

Also a plus, the thank you cards and pictures I had sent to our sponsors after I won were hanging in their offices. Seeing that reinforced in my mind how much a thank you is appreciated. So, THANK YOU, to our Gateway sponsors, board members, and moms and dads! :) Thank you Mal and Gary for setting up all these visits. Thank you Ashlee for taking us around Cardinal Glennon for the day! Thanks mom for coming and taking pics!

Rockin' Radiothon for Children's Hospital

Take one part fundraiser, fifteen parts telephone, and four parts radio station. Stir in a few adorable kids and tens of devoted volunteers. Combine for two days in a hospital lobby, and you get a Radiothon that raised $225,375 for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and Children's Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.

That's right! It's one of Children's Hospital's largest fundraisers of the year, and it's a sure fire recipe to unite my ever-growing hometown of Columbia. The Miracles for Kids Radiothon has been one of my favorite treats for the past 4 years. It combines some of my favorite ingredients: CMNH, talking on the phone, and playing with kiddos! Hundreds of callers pledged thousands of dollars to help support Columbia's Children's Hospital. The hospital is in a new building and finishing their renovations, mentioned in my Board Break-a-thon entry, the associated Zimmer radio group stations had a huge goal of $200,000 to fill by the end of two days. Broadcasting non-stop from the lobby of the Hospital, y107, kat kountry 94.3, clear 99, and eagle 93.9 radio stations rallied the support needed in Mid-Mo to meet and exceed this goal!

I had a blast answering phones, taking pledges, doing radio interviews (maybe a few shameless plugs for the Miss Mo pageant in June), catching up with friends who were fellow volunteers from years past, and, most of all, playing with the kiddos in the hospital.

President of Zimmer radio group

I was most proud of the money my family and I raised through the Columbia Duffers Club. We were able to make a donation and become Super Miracle Makers, meaning the Duffers will have an engraved brick that will be used to help build the hospital. I am so excited to visit and re-visit the hospital and while I'm catching up with my kiddos and friends, can see that brick as a reminder of how each donation really did help build and "support" the hospital. What a blessing to be an ingredient in this recipe!

Catching up with Jeannie, my CMNH friend I met 4 years ago with my first title

Michelle, one of Columbia's wonderful CMNH representatives

Thank you to Michelle for inviting me to the fundraiser this year, dad for taking pics, and mom for coming with me, even though you felt under the weather. :)

National Pancake Day= Best fundraiser ever!

Free pancakes, lovely ladies from around Kansas City, and the opportunity to make a difference in a child's life... you had me at free pancakes! Yesterday, across the nation, local and state titleholders, and of course our Miss America Teresa, visited their local IHOPs (International House of Pancakes) for national free pancake day and to raise money and awareness for Children's Miracle Network. Since IHOP is a partner with CMN, they sell the famous CMN balloons and collect donations year round. But according to Michael, the manager at the Parkville, Mo IHOP, their largest fundraiser, by far, is national free pancake day. And really, who needs a better incentive to donate to a charity than a free short stack of pancakes?! :-)

Miss Northeast Counties OT, Jocelyn Weyer; Miss Greater Kansas City OT, Mickayla Nigles; and I worked our hardest to make sure that every IHOP patron yesterday had the opportunity to earn their free pancakes by donating to CMN. Bringing in hundreds of dollars, I would say that it was a successful fundraiser! But more importantly, it was great getting to tell stories to the patrons of how other donations like theirs would be used at our local Children's Hospital, Children's Mercy Kansas City.

Thank you Angie and Lyn for arranging our visit to IHOP!