Every day, donors like you make gifts of all sizes to build a healthier future for children and expectant mothers. Your support makes our hospital a special place for our patients and families, and we are tremendously grateful.
Tad and Dianne Taube Gift $14.5 Million to Launch Initiatives in Youth Addiction and in Children’s Concussions
Tad and Diane Taube have made generous commitments totaling $14.5 million to address two of the most significant issues affecting the health and well-being of children and adolescents—addiction and concussions—that have ramifications throughout the lives of young people and their families.
A gift of $9.5 million will launch the Tad and Dianne Taube Youth Addiction Initiative, with a goal of treating, preventing, and conducting research into the root causes of addiction, while training young physicians to become future leaders in this area and working in the community to raise awareness.
From the nationwide opioid crisis to the growing pervasiveness of digital and social media, there is a tremendous need to identify, treat, and prevent addiction at the time when it first starts. Traditional addiction programs have focused on treating the issue in adulthood. This initiative, to be led by the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, is the first of its kind in the nation to address addiction in a comprehensive manner during earliest exposure and the formative years in adolescence. The initiative is also part of a major effort at Stanford and Packard Children’s to address mental health—the greatest unmet health care need for young people ages 12 to 25.
A separate gift of $5 million will launch the Taube Stanford Concussion Collaborative. Whether it is from a tackle in football, a collision in soccer, or a fall from a bicycle, concussions are now a widespread concern for children and families, with up to 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occurring annually in the United States. Thanks to the Taubes’ gift, Stanford neurosurgeon Gerald Grant, MD, FACS, Stanford bioengineer David Camarillo, PhD, and nonprofit partner, TeachAids, will advance concussion education, care, and research to protect children from the risk of concussions.
“As parents, we see that young people today are facing a new world of challenges,” says Tad Taube. “We want to educate families and raise awareness about the risks and signs of addiction and concussion in children and adolescents. It can make an all-important difference in their lives.”
“We are tremendously grateful to the Taubes for their leadership to understand, treat, and prevent addiction and concussion in young people,” says Christopher Dawes, president and CEO of Packard Children’s. "Dianne and Tad are stepping forward to make a transformative difference on two of the most critical issues in child health.”
Team G Raises $61,177 for Childhood Cancer Research
Last summer, the Team G Childhood Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit founded by families affected by childhood cancer, presented three giant checks to our hospital totaling $61,177. These crucial funds will support the groundbreaking childhood cancer research being conducted by Kara Davis, DO, Crystal Mackall, MD, and Sheri Spunt, MD, MBA.
Team G organizes a variety of fundraisers throughout the year, including bake sales, dining events, and happy hours. The most successful is a fundraiser with the Bay Club, a health and fitness club. Team G’s Gina Rodriguez organized yoga events with the Bay Club in honor of childhood cancer patients like her 5-year-old daughter, Sofia. Partnering with top pediatric cancer centers on the West Coast, Team G supports clinical trials and childhood cancer research to find less toxic treatments and ultimately find a cure.
We could not be more grateful for their support to help more patients like Sofia!
CVS Health Foundation Gift Will Expand Tobacco Prevention
The CVS Health Foundation made a generous $500,000 pledge to support Professor of Pediatrics Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, and her work with the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit. This toolkit contains a set of educational modules focused on tobacco, e-cigarettes, and addiction aimed at preventing middle and high school students’ use of tobacco products.
The CVS Health Foundation’s pledge will help maintain the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit website, expand dissemination and training across the country, and create and implement metrics to track the toolkit’s success. With this gift, the toolkit will add more tobacco products such as hookah and smokeless tobacco and be refreshed with new activities and information in multiple languages (starting with Spanish and Chinese).
We’re so very grateful for the CVS Health Foundation’s support to ensure our next generation will be tobacco-free!
Mazda Drivers Donate to the Children’s Fund
Mazda gave a generous $101,700 gift to the Children’s Fund, which supports uncompensated care, through its annual Mazda Drive for Good campaign. During the 2016 holiday season, for every new Mazda vehicle purchased or leased, Mazda donated $150 to one of four national or 44 local charities. Each customer was able to select where their funds went.
At a check presentation at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Miriam Stern, mom to patient Vivi, shared her family’s story with the Mazda team. Vivi was diagnosed with biliary atresia at 5 weeks old and underwent a lifesaving liver transplant. Now she is a happy, playful toddler, thanks to those who support transplant research at our hospital.
Special thanks to the local Mazda dealerships and local drivers who supported Packard Children’s!
The Safe + Fair Food Company Supports Allergy Research
The Safe + Fair Food Company selected the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University as its primary charitable beneficiary starting in 2017. Founded by friends Dave Leyrer and Pete Najarian, Safe + Fair will donate 3 percent of all proceeds to the Sean N. Parker Center. The funds will support the critical research conducted by Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, who leads a team dedicated to not only finding better treatments for children and adults with allergies and asthma but also discovering their underlying mechanisms and developing lasting cures.
“We share the Sean N. Parker Center’s mission to improve the lives of people with food allergies and those around them,” said Safe + Fair CEO Will Holsworth. “We are so proud to support the center’s work, and through our products, hope to prove that people with food allergies—and those who live, work, and go to school with them—can enjoy delicious, affordable, safe food.”
Recent estimates show that one in 12 children and one in 20 adults in the United States have a doctor-diagnosed food allergy, making a lifestyle free from food allergens essential for millions of families. We are grateful for Safe + Fair’s partnership. To learn more about Safe + Fair products, please visit safeandfair.com.
Kohl’s Cares Gives $450,000 to Protect Bay Area Children
Thank you to Kohl’s Cares for committing $450,000 to the Kohl’s Child Injury Prevention Program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. With Kohl’s support, the program plays a key role in preventing childhood injuries in our community. The types of injuries specifically addressed include falls, motor vehicle crashes, and pedestrian and bicycle injuries.
Kohl’s partners with hospitals nationwide to educate children and families about topics such as injury prevention and healthy lifestyles. Since 2005, Kohl’s Cares has committed over $1.7 million to our hospital. We could not be more grateful for Kohl’s help in keeping our children safe!
Linda Grimes Gives through an IRA Rollover
Linda Grimes was thrilled to recently discover an easy way to use her Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to give to our hospital. Linda is a member of the San Francisco Auxiliary, where she has served three times as president and as chair of the annual Jewel Ball.
As a longtime supporter of our hospital, Linda knows the importance of providing medical care to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Using an IRA Charitable Rollover, Linda made a tax-free $10,000 rollover gift from her IRA to our foundation to support uncompensated care of seriously ill children. Her gift also counted as part of her required minimum distribution from her IRA.
Thank you for your gift and steadfast commitment, Linda!
To make your IRA gift, contact our Gift Planning team.
Care-A-Van for Kids Receives New Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle
Care-A-Van for Kids received a new wheelchair-accessible vehicle thanks to gifts from Delta Air Lines and First Tech Federal Credit Union. The Care-A-Van program provides no-cost transportation for low-income children and families receiving medical treatment at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford with no reliable means of transportation. This new vehicle can transport up to two wheelchairs at a time and will be a vital resource for our patient families.
Thank you, First Tech Federal Credit Union and Delta Air Lines!
Continuing a Loved One’s Legacy
The Caroline Graham-Lamberts Loving Life Foundation honors Caroline Graham-Lamberts, a bright and caring resident at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford who passed away in 2012. Caroline’s family and friends generously established an academic scholarship in her memory at Stanford University School of Medicine.
The scholarship supports residents who are pursuing careers in pediatric medicine by funding grants for community outreach projects. These annual projects are part of the Stanford Advocacy Track (StAT), an integral part of the Pediatric Advocacy Program. The Pediatric Advocacy Program works with community partners to improve child health and reduce health disparities in Silicon Valley and the surrounding area, while also providing valuable research and learning opportunities for residents. Caroline’s Loving Life Foundation has helped fund more than 20 residents’ projects, providing learning, community engagement, and advocacy opportunities.
We extend our sincerest gratitude and appreciation to Caroline’s friends, family, and Loving Life Foundation.
Hyundai Hope On Wheels Awards $400,000 to Stanford Researchers to Fight Childhood Cancer
In Fall 2017, Hyundai Hope on Wheels awarded Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford $400,000 in grants for pediatric cancer research. These grants will support the work of Kara Davis, DO ($250,000), and Robbie Majzner, MD ($150,000).
Every time a new Hyundai vehicle is sold in the United States, the Hyundai dealer makes a donation to Hope On Wheels. Hyundai is one of the largest private funders of pediatric cancer research. Packard Children’s has received more than $2 million from Hope On Wheels since the program’s launch in 1998.
The grants to Drs. Davis and Majzner were presented during a gala dinner and awards ceremony, which included other local grant recipients and remarks from patient hero Nick Norcia. Nick was treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases by Dr. Davis and is now in remission.
Thank you, Hyundai, for funding life-saving research!
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2017/2018 issue of Packard Children’s News.