Grand Rapids Magazine is proud to partner with Fifth Third Bank to benefit the DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation. Visbeen Associates, Inc., Scott Christopher Inc. and all the participating vendors share pride in the completion of Design Home 2008.

On August 14th, a premier VIP unveiling of Design Home 2008 pays tribute to architectural ingenuity, signature craftsmanship, innovative products and a collaboration of shared professional perspectives. This show house expresses on numerous levels that teamwork — people — are at the heart of what makes its innovative spaces an inviting, practical, family-friendly home.

People are also at the heart of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Annual Giving Fund, which benefits from proceeds of Design Home’s inaugural showing. And while philanthropy makes its family-oriented programs possible, people are what make them friendly — and life-changing.

Programs benefiting directly from Design Home 2008 include:

Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Regional Poison Center. Through the center’s coordinated outreach education plan, children and caregivers in 65 Michigan counties are taught how illness and death can result from accidental or intentional poisoning.

Pediatric Pastoral Care and Bereavement Services. Children and families experiencing physical, emotional and spiritual trauma in their lives are cared for on many levels. Through Children and Worship Program, mentors support parents nurturing the spiritual life of their child in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Child Life. And, every day, “Child Life specialists at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital facilitate play opportunities that will provide children and adolescents with the tools they need to navigate the sometimes scary and overwhelming healthcare experience,” said Anne E. Veltema, public re-
lations coordinator.

“It is through play experiences such as attending the pre-op surgery tour program or exploring on the STARBRIGHT World Computer system in one of our playrooms that children learn, grow and understand what is happening to them.”

To learn more about Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital and the Annual Giving Fund, visit www.devoschildrens.org.