Press release

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 7, 2012) – Mission Foundation is pleased to announce that five percent of all sales on Wed., Jan. 9 from Greenlife Grocery in Asheville will benefit the Child Life program at Mission Children’s Hospital.

“We invite everyone to save their grocery lists until January 9 and shop at Greenlife,” said Bruce Thorsen, President of Mission Foundation. “The employees at Greenlife Grocery recognize the many ways in which the Child Life program serves the children of our community, and we are honored that they have chosen the program to benefit from its monthly giving initiative. It is a true example of community taking care of community.”

The Mission Children’s Hospital Child Life program helps children and families cope with questions, fears and concerns in an effort to make a hospital visit or medical procedure a better experience, helping to ease fears and anxieties that often occur before and during a hospital stay. As the only Child Life program in Western North Carolina, the goal is to ease the child's concerns and provide a more comfortable hospital experience by helping the child prepare for the situation they face. Whether it is role-playing with a favorite doll or puppet or participating in a family activity like story time or movie night, Child Life specialists use a number of techniques to help children and their families cope and communication, including play, distraction therapy, demonstrations, explanations, support groups, tours and more. These techniques encourage children to get involved in their care, which in turn can encourage cooperation and can even result in shorter hospital stays and a reduced need to sedate the child.

Foundation officials expect to raise between $3,000 and $3,500 for the program.

About Mission Foundation
Mission Foundation is a 28-year-old public charity that helps to underwrite projects and programs for Mission Hospital. It is governed by a 28-member Board of Trustees. To date, the Foundation has raised more than $132 million for a wide variety of Mission services, buildings, equipment and patient care staff. It is the only Asheville-based non-profit to have earned national accreditation by the Better Business Bureau of the United States and its Wise Giving Alliance, meeting all twenty standards of integrity, financial and operational excellence. More information is available at http://www.missionfoundation.org.