Good afternoon MINI friends.

Late breaking holiday opportunity. Sorry for the short notice

At the last minute, through the kindness and generosity of a few club members, it looks like some of our Craig Hospital families and patients, will have a memorable, joyous holiday season. Thank You!

For those of you who don't know Craig Hospital, we are located in Englewood, CO, a 107yr old rehabilitation facility serving the needs of two specific areas of catastrophic injuries: SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). We have served over 30,000 patients, 50% of which are local, Colorado residents. Unfortunately, many of our patients and families have suffered financial hardship in conjunction with these life-altering injuries. Your gifts, toys, contributions, well-wishes, will be given and greatly appreciated to those patients and families in need.

When: Thursday 12/19/13. Between 1:00 & 3:00pm.

Where: If you'd like to participate I'm setting up a drop-off area on the cul-de-sac in front of Craig. 3425 S. Clarkson St. Englewood, CO 80113.
Lots of construction as our hospital is growing, don't be intimidated. The cross streets are Rte. 285 (Hampden) & Clarkson. We are adjacent to Swedish Hospital's campus.

What: Toys, games, cards, cookies, etc. We have a diverse age group and patient base. EVERYTHING WILL BE DISTRIBUTED on Thursday to current Craig patients and families.

Thank you very much!

Please call me if you have any questions: 303-789-8188.

Onward & Upward,

Chris

 

thanks, good response so far. and a quick fyi..

Craig staff are very excited to help and welcome the MINI crew. Photo opportunities will be available and we are planning to give the group lots of love and appreciation through social media as well - facebook, twitter, etc.

Should be a fun time!

Chris

 

Thanks for your efforts, Chris. I'll be there. I picked up some toys today at Target. Glad to help!

 

Hope several people turn out for this Chris (I posted this on the FB page for you). Teena and I will not be able to attend with this during the middle of the work day.

 

Thank you Chris for setting this up.

Rich, Thanks for the cross posting, good to see your on top of it, Mr. President 2014.

I will not be making this one, other conflicts for the afternoon.

Don

 

Wow! Thank you Penny (molly), Bill, Zandra & Terry Shaver!

I cruised up to Thornton this am in the "MINI" van and picked up a HUGE amount of toys and gifts for our Craig Hospital patients from A Creative Corner And Friends. Very nice folks, extremely generous and a very cool Full Service Ceramic Shop.

Should you be in the area, looking for arts, crafts, classes and eclectic stuff they're located: 8550 Pearl St. Thornton, CO 80229. Ph: 303-287-5271

Thanks again Penny (molly), Bill, Zandra and Terry, Great job!

P.S. Looks like a few more MINI friends will be stopping by between 1:00 and 3:00. It's not too late, 3425 S. Clarkson St. - thank you in advance!

Onward & Upward,

Chris
303-789-8188

 

Thanks everyone!

All in all we probably had 10 club members participate in the Craig toy drive. I'm estimating we received 75+ gifts that were distributed to children, families and patients who would've otherwise, due to financial hardship, not have received any gifts.

Your generosity was over-the-top AWESOME!

Blessings to all, happy holidays!

Chris

 

Hey Chris any chance you could put together a recap that I could throw into January's newsletter about this awesome event?? Pictures? If so please send to stephanielemcke@msn.com

Thanks!!

 

Stephanie - here ya go

MINI Toy Giveaway

The Minis all gathered with toys as their loot.
Stuffed to the roof from bonnet to boot.

Off to Craig Hospital they flew with a dash.
MINI sleighs all decked out with colors and flash!

The patients and families had smiles ear to ear.
Santa Cooper and his elves bringing joy and good cheer.

Dolls, frisbees, copters, - toys for all troopers.
Boys, girls, and families - even little Mini poopers!

With the MINI club and "A Creative Connection".
Toys & gifts were given with love & affection.

Craig Hospital was lucky, patients and families with smiles.
5280 gave gifts across the Colorado miles.

An annual tradition we'll see what comes about.
MINI 5280 members with Craig Hospital on their route.


Thank you all for your support.
Motor On.

Chris Chappell
Craig Hospital
Corporate Relations Specialist

 

Thanks again everyone. Check out the impact you all had! Chris

http://craighospitalblog.org/blog/

 

MINI 5280 members

And it looks like this year - 2014 - we could have some fun coordinating with the (Denver Broncos) Zane Beadles zbeadles.com foundation.

Below is a note from our Outpatient Services Director. Thanks again everyone!

A note from Cindy Lawson, Dir. Outpatient Services i.e. Craig toy drive:

“Dear Chris,

Thank you for the wonderful donation of toys you recently presented to Craig Hospital Outpatient Services. Many of our families are dealing with the traumatic change that has occurred in their lives with the injury of their loved one. As you may imagine such a life altering event can be devastating to the financialstability of a family. The holidays can present an additional challenge forthose families who have children for whom they want to make sure that Christmas gifts are not forgotten.

Your generous giving has brought amazing smiles and relief to many of these families. On Thursday, December 19th, we had our Craig Hospital staff and patient Christmas Sing-A-Long program. Many of the patient families attend this program. CNS Medical Director, Dr. Balazy, always dresses as Santa and invites the attending children to join him at the front of the room to sing. He invited them to follow him as well, at the close of the program, to the Christmas tree in our Outpatient waiting room, where we had spread many of the toys for each child to choose one. It was a fun-filled experience. Their families were able to see them sit on Santa’s lap and have fun selecting a toy. Smiles and laughter filled the room with wide-eyed happy children.

We also contacted a number of our Outpatient families who came and selected gifts to wrap to put under the tree for Christmas morning for their children. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of this amazing, giving experience.

Please extend our gratitude to your group. Thank you for the Denver Zoo lights tickets as well”.

Cindy Lawson
Director,Outpatient Services
Craig Hospital

*A fun event that I’m planning to repeat in 2014. Additionally,through Joseph, we will be working with and incorporating the DenverBroncos Zane Beadles Foundation as part of Craig’s Toy Drive: http://zbeadles.com/foundation/ *

Thanks everyone for their support,

Chris

 

You ROCK, Chris! I was glad to participate and hope more people get involved in activities such as this one, in the new year. Thanks for planning and executing this toy drive.