KIDstruction Helps Build Smiles
Date Posted: October 21, 2014
Posted In: News, Organizations, People, Projects,
If you want to know something from a broad viewpoint about BJC’s Campus Renewal program, you can check out this video. But, if you met Brayden – a three-year-old boy receiving chemotherapy treatment at St. Louis Children’s Hospital – he could tell you a lot about the project from an up close and personal level.
Donna Ware, BJC Campus Renewal director of planning and design, learned about three-year-old Brayden from her hair stylist. Phillip Lee of Alberici Constructors is the construction director for ACW Alliance, the Campus Renewal construction manager.
During Brayden’s hospitalizations for cancer treatment, he spends most of his days sitting in the window watching construction. Donna relayed Brayden’s love of watching construction to Lee. They discussed ideas for surprising Brayden. Lee jumped at the chance to get Brayden a hard hat, safety glasses, and a safety vest.
When Lee visited him, Brayden was a little scared at first but excited. Later that day his mom took the photo of him sitting in the hospital room window in his safety gear.
ACW’s Lee is very enthusiastic about the experience and offered to take the lead to coordinate with SLCH Child Life Services to have members of the construction team visit kids and bring smiles to their faces. Child Life Services is one of a number of services and programs at Children’s that is supported by the St. Louis construction industry through the KIDstruction program.
This past August through KIDstruction, a Children’s Hospital Foundation outreach, tradesworkers and employees from 82 local construction and design companies came together to raise $213,000 to support programs and services at St. Louis Children’s. Participating companies asked their employees to donate $1 or more for every hour they worked during that week. Of those 82 companies, 29 matched their employees’ gifts dollar for dollar or made a corporate donation of $10,000 or more.
“The St. Louis regional construction and design community stepped up again in 2014 by supporting St. Louis Children’s Hospital,” says Patrick Kozeny, president of Kozeny-Wagner, Inc. and chair of KIDstruction Week 2014. “As an industry, we are making a positive impact with several of the key programs that make St. Louis Children’s Hospital a leader in pediatric healthcare.
KIDstruction has been so successful since it was started in 2011 that a children’s hospital in San Diego recently began a partnering effort to start a program at the facility.