Rite Aid's 24th annual Miracle Balloon campaign to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals is now underway, the Camp Hill, Pa.-based retailer announced Monday. Customers can purchase a $1 paper Miracle Balloon at any Rite Aid to support their local children's hospital through May 12. In return, customers will receive $8 in coupon offers for select products sold at Rite Aid.
"Rite Aid has been supporting Children's Miracle Network Hospitals for nearly a quarter of a century, and with the help of our customers and supplier partners, we have raised more than $87 million for the organization," Kermit Crawford, Rite Aid president and COO and president of The Rite Aid Foundation, said. "There's no better way to truly live our core value of being a caring neighbor than by helping to make miracles happen for sick and injured children living in the communities we serve."
"We continued to be humbled and amazed by our long-time partner, Rite Aid," added John Lauck, president and CEO, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. "The entire Rite Aid family - associates, customers and supplier partners - have been so generous in their efforts over the years to support our network of children's hospitals, which rely on donations and community support to deliver much needed care. We look forward to celebrating another successful campaign this year."
Since 1983, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $5 billion, most of it $1 at a time through the charity's Miracle Balloon icon. The funds raised through Rite Aid's Miracle Balloon campaign stay in the community it was raised in, benefitting the local CMN Hospital and helps to provide pediatric equipment, treatments, research, therapy programs and charitable care benefitting sick and injured kids.
To help raise even more money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, many Rite Aid locations will sell special stuffed teddy bears created by Bears for Humanity, a Certified Organic toy and gift company based in San Francisco that specializes in stuffed toys. The bears are made of organic materials 100% certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard and are sewn and hand stuffed in the U.S. The stuffed bears are available in cream, pink and brown and retail for $14.99. For each bear sold through April 28, Bears for Humanity will donate one dollar to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.