Farm Fresh Donation Supports Children's Center Renovation

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A $2 million donation from Farm Fresh here supported a lengthy renovation of the Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, an outpatient facility at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD) in Norfolk, Va.

The state-of-the-art Center, which opened in late March, celebrated its official dedication yesterday. The gift from Supervalu-owned Farm Fresh was the result of a four-year campaign (2001-2004) by the regional grocery chain, highlighted by an annual in-store fundraiser called a "Round Up," where customers could round up at the cash register the total of their grocery bill to the next dollar, or even add dollars, with the difference going toward the renovation effort.

The 9,200-square-foot clinic is nearly double the size of the former space.

"This generous and heart-warming effort by Farm Fresh and its customers, associates, and vendors allows us to provide outpatient cancer and blood disorders treatment in an environment that is both comforting and state-of-the-art," said Jim Dahling, CHKD president and c.e.o., in a statement. "For children of all ages who spend several hours a day and sometimes several days a week undergoing these treatments, this new facility will make a tremendous difference for them and their families. And with Farm Fresh's continued support, we'll be able to provide care for our local children second to none anywhere in the world."

Children's Hospital offers the only dedicated pediatric hematology-oncology program in the region. Upwards of 50 children a day are seen in the Center.

Concurrently, philanthropic efforts are underway to secure $4 million in endowment funding for the CHKD Childhood Cancer Program. That community-wide effort also is led on behalf of the hospital by Farm Fresh president and c.o.o. Ron Dennis.

"Great advances are being made in the treatment of childhood cancer, but we're still seeing about 50 new cases every year," Dennis said in a statement. "At CHKD, every 'case' is a little boy or girl with a devastated family grasping for hope and treatment -- not hundreds of miles away, but right here in Hampton Roads."
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