Freeman’s Christmas t-shirt fundraiser proves to be huge success

Sales of nearly 600 pre-ordered Christmas-themed t-shirts in an internal Freeman Health System fundraiser event has netted $3,498.17, which was donated to Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals.

“This is our fourth year doing this fundraiser and it started out as just a fun one-time sale, but the staff loved it so much that I decided to keep doing it,” said Nicki Lopez, Freeman’s Clinical Compliance Specialist. “from there it just blossomed and every year it gets bigger and bigger. This year I had pallets of t-shirts, and to get those distributed out to the hundreds of staff that ordered them is fun!”

Lopez went on to note, “This year I was blown away at how this little idea has turned out to be such a huge success. My goal next year is to hit the 5K mark.”

The t-shirts – which came in holiday colors of red, green and gray – were designed by Binky Guy Textiles.

“They do such a great job,” Lopez said of the Joplin-based company. “I give them a design and they run with it.”

The Christmas t-shirts were pre-ordered by Freeman and Ozark Center employees earlier this year. Proceeds from the shirts went to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Laura Gullett is the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Program Coordinator and she told Newstalk KZRG, “CMN is just really grateful for all our donations that we have received throughout the year. We couldn’t do the work that we do without them. We get to take care of our local kiddos, and all of our funds stay 100% local and we are just really grateful for our donors.” Gullett went on to note, “We use CMN funds throughout the year for lifesaving medications, transportation to specialty medical appointments and our wonderful programs, such as Higgins Heroes and the Miracle Service Dog program.”