Rowan and Captain Cereal, at Methodist Children's Hospital this afternoon, after they presented "a ton" of cereal to the San Antonio Food Bank.
It all started when I noticed this display in the hospital lobby, when Rowan was admitted here 10 days ago. He told me he wanted to help, and that I should tell people who wanted to visit him to bring cereal instead of treats or gifts for him. I posted that message on Facebook 3 days ago, and the response has been unbelievable!
First we filled the closet in his hospital room... and then the drawers...
...and then we had to start a stack on the wall to the right...
...and then a stack on the wall to the left...
It was crazy!
Word got out, how many boxes Rowan was bringing in, so the hospital staff brought him a Captain Cereal t-shirt of his own.
Even this morning, just an hour before the end of the drive, Rowan still had cereal coming in.
Rowan and I counted the boxes and totaled the number of servings.
Then it was time to start loading up the carts, with the help of some of the amazing staff members from 3T Pedi-Surgical. We started an assembly line, passing the boxes from the room, out the door,, into the hall, and onto the carts.
We recruited Walker and Rowan to help stack the boxes on the carts.
Once we had everything loaded up, we helped the staff take Rowan's cereal donation down to the lobby. It was quite the breakfast train.
We left the cereal with the staff in the lobby, so they could get it all displayed with the rest of the hospital's collection, and Rowan went back upstairs to wait.
He told me how much he loved his "Knock Out Hunger" T-shirt, and I told him to wear it proudly.
Rowan was able to go back downstairs again, for the presentation of the cereal to the SA Food Bank at noon. There were so many boxes of cereal in the hospital lobby, it was overwhelming to see it all together. This was all brought in by the different units of both Methodist Children's Hospital and Methodist Hospital.
During the presentation, members of the hospital explained the goal of the cereal drive...to help the kids who typically rely on school food programs during the year, so that they can continue to have meals during the Summer months as well.
They also explained how the project eventually became even bigger than they expected...
Rowan had a front row seat, along with his IV pole:) And they recognized him for being a patient at the hospital, who took it upon himself to help the staff that cares for him so often, in their efforts to knock out hunger. The speaker told everyone how Rowan "wouldn't let anyone come visit him unless they brought cereal with them." She went on to say how Rowan has probably helped more people than most of us will in a lifetime. He got a big round of applause when he revealed his total number of cereal boxes and total number of servings of cereal.
The hospital then gave the Food Bank Representative a huge poster that they had printed earlier this morning. It said "30,000 servings and counting". They had no idea that the number would grow to over 50,000 just since this morning! In the end, they loaded up over 52,000 servings of cereal! I'd say that will make a pretty nice dent in San Antonio's hunger this Summer.
After the presentation to the San Antonio Food Bank, Rowan was mic'd up and interviewed by two local television stations. Of course he handled that like a champ.
Thank you to each and every person who contributed, collected and/or delivered boxes of cereal to Rowan's room these last 3 days. He couldn't have done it without you!
Here are pictures of most of you, delivering your cereal boxes:)
(Susan Tata-sorry I missed photographing you.)
Here are pictures of most of you, delivering your cereal boxes:)
(Susan Tata-sorry I missed photographing you.)
....update....
Even while I was typing this blog post up, more cereal came in!
Thank you (again) to the Bexar County Sheriff Department.
They brought 12 more boxes in, which brought Rowan's final total up to:
Thank you Rowan, for inspiring so many people to help feed so many children breakfast this Summer!
And thank you Methodist Children's Hospital for organizing this cereal drive, and the San Antonio Food Bank for all you do to help feed the community.
It shouldn't stop here though. Please donate to your local Food Bank this Summer, and throughout the year, whenever you can. If Rowan can collect almost 4000 servings in 3 days, imagine what we all could do over the next 3 months!
That is totally awesome!
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