Money is available to help the families of patients at Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital in Cleveland, thanks to the efforts of the Zichi family and generous shoppers and benefactors.
Emily's Hopeful Holiday shopping event at St. Joseph School in Amherst on Sunday raised $6,700 to use to assist the families this holiday season.
Laura Zichi, who organized Emily's Hopeful Holiday, received donations from business sponsors from Sandusky to Cleveland and said about 150 shoppers came to the open house at St. Joseph School.
"All money will go directly to families of children patients at Rainbow," Zichi said. A social worker at the hospital will distribute the money to families who need help with rent, heat, car payments and other bills while their children are being treated, she said.
This is the second year the Zichi family of Amherst has helped families. Last Christmas, the Zichis raised $9,000 in cash, $1,000 in gift cards and filled a 17-foot U-Haul trailer with gift bags, toys and games for families as a way of showing gratitude for the treatment their 7-year-old daughter Emily received while fighting leukemia at Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital. Other smaller fundraisers have been held throughout the year to continue to raise money. The Emily’s Hopeful Holiday fund has raised $17,000 in its first two years.
Emily, now 8 years old, is recovering and is in the third grade at St. Joseph School. Her leukemia treatments will be finished on June 15, 2009.
"Our event went well thanks to the 30 volunteers who made it possible," she said. "Beth Bayus, one of my very best friends, worked hard and diligently. Without her I'd still be working on it."