Major League Baseball Umpire, Alan Porter, his son, Trey, UMPS CARE board member Paul Vetrano (Deloitte), UMPS CARE Executive Director Jennifer Skolochenko-Platt and our longtime partner Meghan Kelly and the crew at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore delivered 100 Build-A-Bear® furry friends to children in the hospital – many of whom were undergoing chemo and needed a dose of joy and smiles.

The visit to The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx was a fitting way to cap off our season of hospital visits in 2024. This year alone, we stopped at 16 pediatric hospitals across the country and more than 1,600 young patients received the comfort of new Build-A-Bear® friend.

Since we started this program in 2006, UMPS CARE has delivered 22,765 Build-A-Bear® stuffed toys to children in hospitals in the United States and in Canada. The visit at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore marked our 224th visit to pediatric hospitals.

These visits are made possible through the generosity of our many supporters and sponsors. We are grateful to the following sponsors who help make this program possible: Arby’s Foundation, Eisai, Inc., Major League Baseball, Ares Management, Huron, the MLBUA, Ump AttireMelanie Ahern, Peter Marcus, Stephen Joseph, Friends of Jimmy Miller, Official-ly FORE Kids, MLB umpires Brennan Miller and Chris Segal (hosts of the East Coast Classic), among others.

Want to add your name to our “nice list”?

There’s still time to donate to our Holiday Hugs campaign so we can continue to provide furry friends and the comfort of a hug to kids in hospitals.