Five businesses. One goal. Twelve thousand dollars.
That’s what five local businesses did this summer when they planned and executed Tuna & Tea for CHKD, a fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters and the many families who have, and will continue, to benefit from the life saving childhood cancer treatments there.
The event was presented by Waypoint Seafood & Grill, Northwestern Mutual Advisors, Tracy Shackelford and Harold Philipsen, Consociate Media, Sara Harris Photography and Marker Nine - all owned and operated by women with a Gloucester tie and clients throughout Williamsburg.
Tuna & Tea for CHKD raised more than $12,000, which was presented to Larissa Trinder Friday, July 29 at Waypoint Seafood & Grill during the final party of the fundraiser held there.
Trinder, Director of Corporate Relations for CHKD, said the funds would go to support the very cancer care that inspired the fundraiser to begin with.
“It’s hard to imagine anything but heartbreak and heartache in a cancer center,” said Tracy Shackelford of Northwestern, “but the folks at CHKD have created a place with state-of-the-art treatment AND state-of-the-art care.”
Tracy’s niece, Ginger Shackelford, was a patient at CHKD last year and was not only the inspiration for the fundraiser, but, now in remission, she also attended the final event to present the check herself to CHKD and tell her story publicly for the first time since being diagnosed just days before Thanksgiving in 2015.
“It was very surreal, very bizarre. No one can prepare you for that feeling,” Ginger said about learning as a young person that you have cancer.
But “everyone there was absolutely fantastic,” Ginger said, describing oncology doctors as always taking the time to explain things, nurses who just knew when Ginger needed to be “wrapped in a hug” and “was so much more than a nurse,” and an education coordinator who “really went to war for me.”
Funds were raised through the purchase of a signature cocktail and appetizer – tuna and tea – through the month of July. Friends, family members and clients of the hosts also donated online and with mailed in checks and support.
CHKD is Virginia’s only freestanding, full-service pediatric hospital that provides comprehensive care to children from birth through age 21. Their Childhood Cancer program provides for approximately 500 local children with cancer. Cancer care at CHKD encompasses children’s physical, emotional and educational needs and incorporates the whole family to help lessen the stress of coping with such a serious illness in a child.
