Nonprofit of the Year Winner | Small: Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at CoxHealth

When children and their families are forced to face illnesses or injuries they never imagined would occur, Children’s Miracle Network is there to make sure they don’t have to do it alone.

Defining the numerous ways the organization can help is not easy, as there isn’t much it doesn’t do. Executive Director Tim Siebert says Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at CoxHealth runs the gamut from providing financial help for special medical needs to offering preventive care for children 18 and younger in the Ozarks.

“I don’t think people sometimes understand the breadth and depth of all that we do,” Siebert says.

Children’s Miracle Network is affiliated with 170 hospitals throughout the U.S. and Canada. It entered the Springfield area in 1986. CoxHealth covers the local office’s operating costs, but the organization helps children at any hospital. In addition, it helps children undergoing any illness or injury – everything from asthma to brain injury.

Preventive care efforts include the Care Mobile pediatric clinic on wheels, which travels to provide basic medical care to children who might not receive it otherwise, as well as funding for eight educational programs.

The best way to define what Children’s Miracle Network does, however, is to hear the stories of children whose lives were impacted by this organization. Take Danielle Roeder, who was born in Willard to Greg and Suzanne Roeder with a disease that couldn’t be diagnosed for the first six years of her life, despite the efforts of numerous local doctors. She used a wheelchair and was unable to even hold up her head on her own.

After a trip to the Mayo Clinic in 2005, partially funded by Children’s Miracle Network, everything changed. Roeder was diagnosed with dopa-responsive dystonia, a childhood form of Parkinson’s disease, within two days. They discovered it could be treated with medication, surgery and therapy. The medication worked quickly.

“It was phenomenal,” Siebert says. “Within a few days, she was lifting her head.”

Since CoxHealth funds Children’s Miracle Network’s operating budget, which came in at $729,824 this year and includes the salaries of its four employees, the organization is able to use all funds from donors to directly help kids.

With a small team, the organization relies on the help of over 150 volunteers to accomplish its mission. Volunteer opportunities include taking phone calls during the Miracle Week telethon and helping host the Scramble for Miracles golf tournament fundraiser at Fremont Hills.

What is the heart of your organization’s mission?
“Helping to make quality medical treatment and assistance available and accessible to families who might not be able to afford it.” —Tim Siebert