Thank you to everyone who supported the BankPlus Light-A-Light for Children Project at Batson Children’s Hospital this holiday season. More than $28,000 was raised from this annual project, one of our organization’s oldest and dearest. Each year area supporters “Light-A-Light” on the Batson Hospital Christmas Tree in honor or memory of someone. The honoree or their family receives a special card telling them of the gift. Many in the Jackson area also received a special gift of an Eternal Light that will shine each year. When an Eternal Light is first lit, the honoree or their family will receive an acknowledgment card as well as a stained glass angel ornament created by Mississippi artist, Jerry Hymel. Each year following, the Eternal Light will be remembered during the tree-lighting ceremony and the honoree or their family will receive an additional acknowledgment card.
The Tree Lighting Ceremony, held on the first Tuesday in December, is always a special evening for Batson families and staff. Families, staff and visitors gather in the children’s hospital lobby as the trees are lit for the first time, officially kicking off the holiday season at children’s hospital. This past year, WJTV’s Linda Allen helped CMN Champion Sydney Gholar flip the giant candy cane switch and light the Batson Christmas Tree and the Eternal Light Tree. The Eternal Lights from years past were remembered during brief remarks by Guy Geisecke, CEO of Batson Children’s Hospital; Jackie Petrus, president of the board of directors for Friends and Bryan Jones, Vice President for BankPlus. Following the tree-lighting, dancers with Ballet Mississippi performed excerpts from The Nutcracker for the entranced crowd.
Batson Children’s Hospital received a makeover for the holidays. Volunteers with The Home Depot and The Junior League of Jackson assisted local florist David Spurk with Petal Pushers in transforming the lobbies of Batson Children’s Hospital, the Mississippi Children’s Cancer Clinic and Wiser Women’s & Infant’s Hospital. The elves worked for several days decorating inside the children’s hospital and outside. The Batson Christmas Tree was decorated with more than 10,000 colored lights and The Chain of Hope; each brightly colored link in the paper chain features the name of a child treated at Batson.
The Light-A-Light entry form is available to download or you can purchase Lights online beginning in October. If you would like to purchase an Eternal Light right now or have any additional questions, please contact Melanie Schade at 601.984.5273 or mschade@umc.edu.
