Walmart, Sam's Club workers raise over $249K for children's medical care

More than $35 million raised nationally

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Walmart and Sam’s Club employees helped raise $249,859 for UF Health Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

The fundraising effort followed the annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals campaign. The fundraising efforts are part of a broader national effort that raised more than $35 million in support of the 170 member hospitals across the country.

“CMN is near and dear to all of us here at Walmart, and our store engages like no other in the region,” Orange Park Walmart store manager Robert “Bob” Delicino said. “At our store, we want to connect with the community, and our participation in raising funds for the local CMN hospitals is one way we are doing just that while touching the lives of so many children in our community. It’s inspiring to see how excited our associates and customers are year after year. They want to raise the most money, and we challenge ourselves to go big.” 

Delicino’s store raised more than $30,000 during the campaign, the most of any store in the Jacksonville area.

Funds from this year’s Walmart and Sam’s Club campaign will be used to build a state-of-the-art milk lab for UF Health Jacksonville’s neonatal intensive care unit. The milk lab will streamline the NICU’s nutrition process and ensure that the hospital’s littlest patients receive the best care possible.

“Thanks to funds donated by Children’s Miracle Network, in partnership with Walmart and Sam’s Club, when babies need to be transported from other hospitals to our NICU, this is now done in state-of-the-art neonatal transporters, enabling lifesaving treatment to begin before the baby even gets to the NICU," UF Health Jacksonville clinical quality nurse leader Mark Yeoman said. "Nurses in the NICU see the direct benefit that these donations have made to the care of the babies, and while parents may never know where the funds came from to purchase these items, we do and are eternally grateful.”

Walmart and Sam’s Club have supported Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals for 30 years. Funds raised impact each of the network's 170 hospitals, which treat 10 million kids annually across North America. Hospitals utilize the money based on what they need most, including lifesaving equipment and research, top therapy programs, charitable care and more. 

Fundraising efforts have evolved over the last 30 years. While donations at the registers drive most of the fundraising at stores and clubs during the campaign, employees also get creative by hosting fundraising events, such as golf tournaments, popcorn sales, root beer floats, community events and face painting. 

Click here for more information about Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.