$20M gift launches Children’s Hospital expansion project
Three generations of the family of the late Monroe Carell Jr. have pledged a gift of $20 million to the fundraising effort for a new facility to care for children and mothers.
The Campaign for Children and Mothers, with a goal of $45 million, will support the building of a 400,000-square-foot facility, adjacent to and connected with the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
“This is truly a family gift from three generations,” said Julie Stadler, the eldest daughter of Ann and Monroe Carell Jr. She and her husband, George Stadler, are chairing the Campaign for Children and Mothers. “My father inspired many by his example. He believed if you felt passionate about a cause, you should support it with your time, energy and financial resources to the best of your ability.
“That’s why this gift is from all of us: my mother, Ann Carell; my sisters and their husbands, Kathryn and David Brown and Edie and David Johnson; and from George and me and all of our children. Our family felt it was important to demonstrate our own support in a significant way as we ask others throughout the
community for their generosity.”
Stadler joined John Stein, chair of the Board of Directors for Children’s Hospital; Kevin Churchwell, M.D., CEO of the Children’s Hospital; and Harry Jacobson, M.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs for Vanderbilt Medical Center, as they announced the gift to the hospital’s board of directors on Sept. 11, 2008.
“The generosity of the whole Carell family is a thing of legend,” Jacobson said. “A gift of this magnitude has the possibility of transforming the way we view care for mothers and the babies they carry. But just as important, the generosity of the Stadlers, the Browns, the Johnsons, and Ann Carell will allow us to expand our Children’s Hospital to meet the needs of our growing region, to expand our services, and to broaden our mission and build this wonderful new facility.”
Monroe Carell Jr., who died on June 20, 2008, was a noted philanthropist and chaired the campaign that built the Children’s Hospital that now bears his name. VM
-CAROLE BARTOO |
