THE CARLA MARTIN BANDAGE DRIVE FOR MARY BRIDGE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Every March
at the TCT Luncheon
“LET’S BAND TOGETHER”
for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital
Our annual “Bring your latex-free ‘kids’ bandage boxes to the lunch” meeting!
In 2008 during a tour of the cancer ward at Mary Bridge Children’s hospital, we had the pleasure of meeting two young children going through treatment. At the end of their time, they were allowed to go to a treasure chest where they could pick out a children’s themed bandage to cover up where the IV had been. What we learned from the staff was that the hospital could only purchase generic bandages and the kid-themed ones had to be donated. These words screamed opportunity for our Club and thus the TCT Bandage Drive was born.
"Band-aids" from school kids for the kids at Mary Bridge!
Starting in 2008, the Club was able to bring in a little over 750 boxes of bandages. In 2009 we brought in 1000 boxes, in 2010 we brought in 1656 boxes, in 2011 we reached 2656 boxes, and this year we collected 4300 boxes of fun, kid-approved bandages! Not only have we surpassed our goals - we also created a buzz in the local community. Specifically, in 2010, a small elementary school in South Tacoma chose to help out and they created this great booklet called “Let’s Band Together”.
How much of an impact does this event have? Every box contains a minimum of 20 bandages. This means we put over 207,000 smiles on kids with our efforts!
Post on the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital Facebook Page after our 2012 bandage delivery!
