Shriners routinely take to the streets this time of year to help assure the future of their Shriners Hospitals for Children. The collection will be Saturday.
“We’ve got 22 hospitals specializing in burn, orthopedic, cerebral palsy and other types of medical care for children,” said Oasis Noble Jeff Holshouser, president, Rowan Shrine Club.
“It doesn’t cost our patients a dime for some of the best medical treatment in the world. And every penny that goes into the operation of the hospitals comes from the efforts of local Shriners,” Holshouser said.
“We don’t accept outside funding, so the more than $800 million Shriners Hospitals operating budget is funded by the efforts of our more than 400,000 members in 193 Shrine chapters in North America.”
Money magazine has called the Shriners Hospitals one of the best charitable organizations in the world, with 96 cents out of every donated dollar going to the operation of the system.
Every year there is an effort called the annual Paper Crusade, a project originated by Oasis Shriners in 1976 that has raised, to date, more than $30 million for the Shriners Hospitals.
While Shriners are collecting donations, they will distribute an annual “hospital paper” with stories about local patients and information about the hospital system.
Volunteers work intersections, parking lots, store entrances and neighborhoods in the year’s most energetic effort to raise funds for the hospitals.
“Scores of merchants across the state have graciously allowed us to conduct our Paper Crusade at their facilities, and we’re very appreciative,” said Holshouser. “We’ve also picked up support of organizations like the NFL Alumni Association, which holds a golf tournament in North Carolina every year to raise money for the hospitals.”
The Shriners operate an orthopedic hospital in Greenville, S.C., and a burn center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where literally hundreds of North Carolina children receive treatment almost every day.
Throughout the Oasis jurisdiction, roughly all of the western part of North Carolina, there are more than 3,400 active patients.