With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game coming to Denver next week, the umpires wanted the kids in the hospital to feel a little bit of the All-Star spirit, so UMPS CARE delivered 100 Build-A-Bears, outfits, baseball activity books and more to young patients at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
This event marks the 176th delivery of Build-A-Bears® to kids in hospitals since UMPS CARE created its BLUE for Kids hospital program in 2006. UMPS CARE has distributed more than 17,500 Build-A-Bears® to kids across the country and in Canada through this program.
“All of us at UMPS CARE are so excited to be able to see the joy in these young patients again,” said Jennifer Skolochenko-Platt, Executive Director at UMPS CARE Charities. “These kids and families had a blast meeting some of the umpires and getting a little taste of the All-Star Game right at their hospital bed. We are so grateful to the staff at Children’s Hospital Colorado for helping us coordinate
what is sure to be a grand slam for these kids and their parents.”
Major League Baseball Umpire and Crew Chief Paul Emmel, who makes his home in the Denver area, participated in this event as did Denver-based NHL referee Tom Chmielewski. The goal of this program is to illustrate that Helping People Is An Easy Call, so it was great to have sports officials united for this cause and for these kids.
UMPS CARE wants to thank longtime partners at Eisai for sponsoring and volunteering to support for this program. A representative from Eisai joined us for this visit, and Eisai employees took time out of their schedules to package goody bags for the young patients at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Thank you to the staff at Children’s Hospital Colorado and to photographer Chet Strange for capturing such great moments from this event!
