Alabama logger Jimmy Hudspeth and oncologist Dr. Robert Castleberry back up Children’s Miracle Network hospital patient Eli Weaver in his successful fight against lymphocitic leukemia. Log A Load fundraising now supports kids with special needs in 30 forested states.

In 1988, with the encouragement of the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN), the South Carolina Forestry Association organized a campaign to raise funds for a local children’s hospital by encouraging loggers to donate the value of a truckload of logs to the hospital. The “Log A Load For KidsTM”campaign quickly spread throughout the state, and today “Log A Load” campaigns have taken off in 30 states and in Canada—in each case, culminating in donations to local CMN-affiliated children’s hospitals.

CMN, a non-profit organization which mounts a national campaign on behalf of children’s hospitals every year, says “Log A Load” is one of its largest sponsors. One-hundred percent of Log A Load For Kids funds donated goes directly to help about 70 local children’s hospitals—no overhead or administrative fees are deducted. Accumulated donations since the program started now exceed $15 million, and 2001’s national fundraising goal is $3 million.

Early on in the program, it became clear that simply donating funds was not the whole extent of loggers’ involvement. Loggers and foresters often work with hospital staffs to identify critical funding needs and organize efforts to fill specific gaps in budgeted programs. In 1995, for instance, Alabama donations supported the development of a special clinic at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham for prevention and treatment of child abuse, and Arkansas Log A Load began designating donations in 1999 to create an endowed “Log A Load for Kids Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery” at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Loggers, and other forest products people, have shown great dedication and creativity in organizing events such as log auctions, golf tournaments, raffles, “charity harvests”— even dunk tanks at community carnivals—to benefit kids with special needs and to affirm their own commitment to their communities’ future.

Betsy Luoto, co-owner of Oregon’s Cross & Crown logging firm, currently chairs the Log A Load For Kids Advisory Council, which sets national fundraising goals and helps state campaigns co-ordinate and share information with each other. “I am proud to be a part of the wonderful group of people from all over our nation who work hard to produce, manage, and harvest the timber needed and used daily by each American in all facets of life,” she says. “These people go selflessly beyond themselves when their workday is done to raise funds to help children in need of a second chance at life. We are not afraid to try.”

For more information about this remarkable program, and how to participate in it, please visit www.logaload.org.