Thanks to Tom Thumb’s generous customers and associates across North Texas, the chain’s Kindness for Kids program raised $162,209 last year for cancer patients at Children’s Medical Center. This gift brings the company’s cumulative donations to more than $1.9 million.
“We are truly grateful for Tom Thumb and its shoppers’ steadfast dedication to our patients for the past 14 years,” said J. Peter Kline, president of Children’s Medical Center Foundation. “This is a great demonstration of how every member of our community plays a vital role in helping provide hope and healing to every child today, and for generations to come.”
The funds raised will help support Children’s After the Cancer Experience (ACE) program. The ACE program provides patient care, education and advocacy for childhood cancer survivors and conducts research to better understand the causes and cures of late effects among cancer survivors. The program enables seamless transition of pediatric cancer survivors to adult services via the ACE Young Adult program at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The nationally recognized program is one of only a few long-term follow-up survivor programs in the nation that bridges the gap from childhood to adulthood within a centralized medical system. In 2011, the ACE program worked with nearly 100 new patients and provided more than 600 patient visits.
“Tom Thumb is honored to partner with Children’s Medical Center through our Kindness for Kids program,” said Paul McTavish, president of Tom Thumb. “It allows our associates and customers to make a difference in the lives of so many children, one dollar at a time.”
Tom Thumb’s Kindness for Kids program asks shoppers to donate $1 or any amount they choose at check-out for a now-familiar yellow, child-shaped paper cutout, which is posted at various places throughout the store. Funds raised at stores in the Greater Dallas area benefit Children’s.
