Snow Ball
A Flurry of Support for Kosair Children’s Hospital
Published On: December 28, 2011
The shiny, happy places that are the Festival of Trees and Lights and the Snow Ball are everything a kid’s life should be: light, fun, and well directed, but with enough room for some spontaneity. The Snow Ball, part of the Festival of Trees and Lights sponsored by Republic Bank, is an exercise in old school glamour. At the Marriott this year the guests were black-tied and ball-gowned, the menu bore an intermezzo, and the lights? Well, they tripped fantastically. All to celebrate the crucial work Kosair Children’s Hospital (KCH) does each year to heal and save the lives of injured children. Leslie Smart, Systems Director of Philanthropy for the Kosair Children’s Hospital Foundation, said, “Snow Ball is a big night” because the net proceeds of the event go straight to treat injured kids. “So many in the room were touched by the hospital in some way,” she said. Radiant in a plum, one-shouldered gown, Smart was lit from the inside with good cause.
One of the five Norton Hospitals and the teaching hospital for the University of Louisville's School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics, KCH treats 120,000 children each year. It is the only freestanding children’s hospital in Kentucky and is home to the region’s only pediatric trauma center. Dr. Gerard Rabalais, Pediatrics Chair at U of L, said KCH wants to gain accreditation for a level one children’s hospital trauma unit. Accreditation would enhance the existing trauma center and “bring trauma surgeons in house 24 hours a day 7 days a week,” said Lynnie Meyer, Chief Development Officer for Norton Healthcare and Children’s Hospital Foundations. A key component this year is the Foundation’s effort to raise $7 million. With 8 programs in the top 30 children’s trauma treatment programs in the country now, trauma certification, Meyer said, would allow KCH to meet its goal to be one of the top 20 children’s hospitals overall in the US by 2020. Meyer said Walmart’s $1 million gift and the $600,000 proceeds from the Festival of Trees and Lights this year puts KCH well on its way.
Louisville is fortunate to have such tremendous health resources for our children at our easy disposal. Count the winners of the Snow Ball raffle lucky as well. Michele Skaggs won a home donated by Norton Commons and Karen Sutton won a BMW donated by BMW of Louisville. How’s that for a good holiday?
—photographs by josh miller
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