Helping children be children
The following is an editorial commentary
Walking into the Shriners Hospital in Houston, I noticed it looked more like a beautiful office building than a hospital.
The walls were adorned with plaques and vibrant colors. There were palm trees surrounding a statue of a Shriner holding a little child.
Last month, the Khiva Shrine in Amarillo invited the media to tag along on their tour of their Texas hospitals.
I was lucky enough to get to go on that trip with Daybreak's Meredith Keller.
Before the trip, I always had the preconceived notion that Shriners were nothing more than an all male secret society that wore fez hats, drove mini Corvettes in parades and sold onions on street corners.
But I have since learned they do so much more.
While they do sell onions and act a little silly in parades, they also spend the majority of their time raising money for their hospitals.
The 22 hospitals run by the Shriners rely solely on donations to be able to care for children up to the age of 18.
Kids with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate are eligible for free care.
Free!
Seriously?
Kids with injuries can get some of the best care in the world... and their parents don't have to worry about getting an enormous bill in the mail?
Amazing!
To know that if one of my children were injured and needed orthopedic or burn care, these guys would go out of their way to make sure they were taken care of.
And not just my children, any child!
Seeing those kids in the hospital and knowing that some of them may not have survived their injuries without the help of the Shriners made me really appreciate those men.
I have a newfound respect for the Shriners, and for the work that they do.
If you would like to learn more about the services offered at the Shriners Hospitals, check out http://www.shrinershospitals.org.
