Christmas at the Shrine Hospital in Cincinnati

I thought it would be a nice break from the weekly Survivor Rant to write about a neat story that took place last week, Thursday December 15.
A lot of you participated in our annual fund raiser to benefit the Children Shrine Hospital in Cincinnati. This is the second year for this event and not only was it fun, you will soon read of the benefits. For those of you who don't know about the event, we pick an Ohio State football game to watch on television and rent a room at the Shrine Temple next to Easton Towne Center. We have a 50/50 raffle, silent auction items, door prizes etc. We also put out more food than the third army needed in Iraq which is about the equivalent to what my mom keeps in her basement freezer on any given day. If the third army ever shows up at my mom's, she'll send dad up to Kirwens' for some milk and dinner rolls and give her 45 minutes and they will all leave with full stomachs. If you don't believe she cooks that much simply show up this Saturday Christmas Eve at her house about 8:00 pm and bring some to go boxes because you will go home with food.
Anyhow, we raised three times the amount we did last year and took off to deliver the check to the hospital on Thursday. I thought it important to educate you on what exactly your money and donations get spent on. We got a short tour of the hospital and learned some of the following. When I say we I mean my buddy Marky Mark who heads up the event and I. I think our personas were leaked out as they wouldn't let us near the kids. They tell us it was because of the chance of infection but we think it was geared more toward they didn't want us teaching the kids to say things like " Here, pull my finger." We met John who used to work in the makeup department in Hollywood among other places getting people ready for movie roles. One of his tasks is to make form fitting masks and body stockings for kids who sustain burns. The product looks and feels a lot like Silly Putty or Clay Doh in its finished state. And before you ask, yes Mark and I got to play with the Silly Putty for a few minutes. The product rolls on the skin like paint and they put it on the body parts effected and in about five minutes it hardens and they simply peel it off and make the form fitting skins and stocking from the molds. The kids wear these body stockings for 23 hours a day which help prevent scars from growing on their skin. In the next area we met a lady who goes into the school that the injured student attends. She take pictures along of the student who was injured to show to the entire school. The pictures show the student wearing the stocking which helps to educate the students about the injury and what type of rehab they are going through. They do this a day or two prior to the student returning to school in order to make a smoother transition for both sides. They also have hotel type rooms for the family to stay and play areas etc. It is totally free of charge for these families. This is only a small sampling of what the Shriners do but I thought with it being Christmas time, you might like to know as to exactly how your donations are working for others. Thanks and have a great holiday.
Andy