A Week of Amazing Eats, running until Friday, is a week-long event supporting Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital. Local restaurants have agreed to donate a portion of their sales to go toward the building of the children’s hospital.
The freestanding children’s hospital is under construction, and they have currently raised a total of $35.4 million out of their $50 million goal. With 70 percent of the money for the hospital raised, events like these help generate more funding.
Some of the restaurants involved include Sammy’s Grill, City Pork, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Phil’s Oyster Bar, Leave Dinner to June and Stroube’s Seafood & Steaks.
“Community fundraisers are very important to the success of Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital,” Chief Medical Officer for OLOL Children’s Hospital Dr. Shaun Kemmerly said. “Not only are these events necessary because of the funds they raise, but they also allow us to highlight the great work being done here at the children’s hospital, which ultimately benefits our community as a whole.”
This spring, several additional events are in the works. In addition to A Week of Amazing Eats, there will be a 2017 Fiesta held May 4, a Driving the Future car raffle starting in March and a University student-led Dance Marathon on March 24.
All the funds generated from these events will directly benefit the construction of the new freestanding children’s hospital.
“The restaurants in our community were excited to participate in a larger effort with their peers to help the kids in our community,” OLOL Foundation campaign specialist Whitney Thompson said.
On Friday, Blend’s downtown location, Pita Pit on Highland and the Northgate and Corporate Newk’s locations will be participating. Newk’s will only be fundraising from 4-9 p.m. but Blend and Pita Pit will be participating all day.
Dance Marathon at LSU, a campus philanthropy organization, began in 2013, and it has collectively raised $288,230.33 since its start. The organization holds the record for most money raised their first year, a total of $105,557.88.
The 26.2 hour dance is held “to celebrate the patients and families that have received treatment from Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital and recognize the various constituencies who dedicated their time and efforts to our cause,” according to Dance Marathon’s mission statement.
“Our vision is to become a destination center of excellence delivering the highest level of pediatric care in a freestanding children’s hospital,” as stated on the Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital website.
Help support their cause by visiting the participating restaurants over the remainder of this week. Dance Marathon is also now open for registration.
