The story of the Children’s Park of Georgia began in the Northside family of hospitals. I am so grateful for the outstanding care and compassion they showed my family during one of the most difficult times of our lives.

It is because of their quality medical care (and the grace of God) that my son survived being born at 26 weeks and 6 days. At just 2 lbs., he battled a significant brain bleed, a hole in his heart, breathing trouble, and scariest of all repeated gastro-intestinal trouble. I am so grateful for the state of the art facility and top notch doctors, nurses and techs that were there in our time of need. I will never forget them or the other families (enduring their own crises) we met there. One of these families, my son’s NICU “roommate”, just attended his birthday for the 11^th year in a row. It was a mountain bike party. How thankful I am that they are both so healthy and thriving after enduring such a difficult start in life.

It is also largely because of the compassionate bereavement support at Northside, specifically the perinatal loss coordinator Aimee Alexander, that this park is being built. She helped me through the most horrible experience of losing my daughter and went above and beyond to show kindness to me in this tragedy. She didn’t discourage me when I first told her about the idea for this park. Rather, she became the first official board member for Remember Georgia’s Children Foundation.

So, you can see how it personally blesses my heart that we are now working with Northside Hospital, in my beloved home of Cherokee County, to build the Children’s Park of Georgia near their beautiful new hospital.

From first-hand experience, I can say the leadership at Northside Hospital – Cherokee is stellar. They give back so much to the community they serve. They want to be known as more than just the place you go when you are sick or need an operation, but also as an involved and caring part of the community.

According to their latest update in the Cherokee Ledger, the fantastic new replacement facility will be completed in December, 2016 with a grand opening for early 2017. http://www.ledgernews.com/news/top_stories/update-hospital-on-schedule-for-opening/article_e4cfd40c-2fb8-11e5-aaaf-438a76175f05.html

While the exact tract of land, within the ~50 acre masterplan of the new hospital campus, has yet to be confirmed, we are targeting a grand opening of the Children’s Park of Georgia to coincide with the hospital’s grand opening.

The current projected budget for the park is $1.4 Million. This money will be raised philanthropically through naming opportunities, grants and corporate sponsorships.

Fundraising is well underway with many orders already coming in for engraved sidewalk stones that will celebrate the lives of children. We have launched our new and improved website with small to major naming opportunities available.  Naming Opportunities

Behind the scenes we are in high gear grant writing mode. Many of these decisions won’t be determined for months, but I look forward to sharing them with you when they are.

I would be happy to personally talk with anyone about how they can be a part of this future landmark for metro-Atlanta.

If you’re interested in a major naming opportunity, I’ll even buy you lunch!

More updates to follow.

Let me know if you have any specific questions!