Sixty years ago, donations from the community built SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Now, the state-of-the-art facility continues to be sustained by support from St. Louisans. Once again, more than 300 area businesses are participating in the Glennon Card fundraiser, helping guarantee plenty of discounts for those who buy the $50 shopping card—and continued high-quality care for children.
For The Container Store, participating as a vendor is about more than having its name listed among other local businesses. “We really value supporting local charities and volunteering our time,” says general manager Emily Winter. “We’ve been fortunate to have a great relationship with Cardinal Glennon. We’re always looking for a way to help nonprofits, and when Cardinal Glennon approached us, we were thrilled to jump in and help.”
Since 2011, The Container Store has been one of the Glennon Card’s biggest advocates by selling 428 cards in-store. Based on those sales, the store alone has raised $21,900 for the children’s hospital. Combine that amount with card sales throughout the city and online, and the annual fundraiser has yielded more than $785,000 since 2011 for a hospital that never turns a family away. The card’s popularity has steadily grown throughout the years. Every participating business offers customers a 20 percent discount on regularly priced merchandise purchased in-store from Oct. 21 through 30. “It really is heartwarming that customers are coming to see us because we support Cardinal Glennon,” Winter says. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”
For the past two years, The Container Store has gone beyond just selling the cards. Winter and her employees have updated and reorganized spaces within the hospital using merchandise donated by the store. “We made over the Shining Star School, a teachers’ area, with elfa shelving,” Winter says. “Teachers who work with hospital patients store books there, and in the newly organized spaces, they easily can see all their books and supplies. It gives them more time in their day, which means more time to enrich the lives of their patients. It also added more space to their work area.” The Container Store donated the products, and employees donated their time to build it. “We are really fortunate that we hire great employees and have a wonderful team that volunteers,” Winter says. “It’s great to support the community in that way. And it’s not hard to get employees to volunteer when we offer them the opportunity—they love to do it!”
The classroom was the store’s second Cardinal Glennon project. A year ago, the business reorganized three closets for the hospital. “After we organized the Child Life area (where specialists work with patients and their families to cope socially and emotionally), they had more space and were better able to use it,” Winter notes. “It also allowed them to spend more time with children and their families. It was such a success last year, we wanted to offer more support this year, and that’s why we redid the Shining Star School.”
Pictured: General manager Emily Winter and other volunteers from The Container Store
Photo: Bill Barrett