Hoover Public Safety Foundation donates $10,000 to Children's Harbor
The Hoover Public Safety Foundation today made a $10,000 contribution to Children’s Harbor to help provide summer camp experiences for children with serious illnesses or injuries.
The foundation, a private group affiliated with the Hoover police and fire departments, raised most of the money through a Night of Laughter event at the Comedy Club Stardome in October, said retired Hoover fire Chief Chuck Wingate, who is chairman of the foundation.
People bought tickets to attend a dinner, comedy show and silent auction, Wingate said. The foundation also received a few donations totaling about $500, he said.
The foundation was formed in 2012 and has contributed more than $165,000 to charities, including Children’s Harbor, American Cancer Society, UAB Comprehensive Cancer Research and the Camp Conquest summer camp for children with burn injuries.
Wingate said Children’s Harbor is a great investment in the lives of children.
The organization runs a family center at the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children in Birmingham that offers activities for patients and their siblings, as well as counseling and educational resources at no charge. That center receives more than 24,000 visits per year, Children’s Harbor CEO Myrle Grate said.
Children’s Harbor also has a 66-acre campus at Lake Martin in Alexander City that provides summer camp space for more than 40 organizations that serve children with cancer, autism, serious burns, visual impairment and spinal cord injuries and children going through organ transplants.
This summer, a record 4,600 campers are scheduled to attend camps there, Grate said. Those camp experiences would not be possible without the support of organizations such as the Hoover Public Safety Foundation, Grate said.
“No municipality has been more supportive of Children’s Harbor’s work for the disabled and ill children in the state of Alabama than the city of Hoover,” he said.
Just after today’s check presentation, several Hoover police officers and firefighters spent some time helping patients at the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children operate remote-controlled emergency vehicles and make children’s versions of public safety badges.