When giving is personal
Sarah Coenen joined the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation’s monthly donation program, the Bear Hug Club, before her family ever needed the Stollery. When her daughter was born, she saw first-hand the difference donations like hers make.
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ShowWhen Sarah Coenen first became a monthly donor as a member of the Stollery’s Bear Hug Club, she didn’t have any children of her own. She simply wanted to support the children in our community who needed a hospital that they could go to whenever they needed help. Sarah had no idea at the time how important the Stollery would become to her own family.
Seven years after she became a monthly supporter, Sarah’s little girl, Adalyn, was born. She was only 3 pounds 8 ounces. A Stollery neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team was right there to provide care as soon as baby Adalyn was born. She was quickly assessed, and they decided right away that she needed to be taken up to the NICU.
Little Adalyn was at the Stollery for over a month. “We have nothing but amazing things to say about the nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists — everyone. They just focus on these tiny little babies and getting them better,” says Sarah. She saw firsthand the work and dedication that go into caring for a sick infant. She also saw how much the nurses and doctors rely on important equipment.
Sarah’s proud of the role her family’s monthly gifts play in helping care for the Stollery’s littlest patients, through funding equipment, special programs, research and training. She knows that a gift of any size really adds up over each year to have tremendous impact.