All Children's Hospital Guild Beach Branch

The All Children's Hospital Guild Beach Branch is a dedicated group of 70 volunteers from the St. Petersburg Beach Area. As you can see from our many projects we work hard but have fun raising funds and friends. We find great satisfaction and joy in our efforts to raise money to help All Children's Hospital through a variety of fun events.

Welcome from our President, Judy McDermott

Our meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month (Sept-May) at the Treasure Island Yacht and Tennis Club. A fun networking social begins at 10:00a.m, followed by a business meeting at 10:30am and an optional lunch following the meetings.

As we approach the 2009-10 year we have planned a continuation of some of our most fun profitable programs and will be adding a card Party which happened to be one of our former events. We also have renamed our Walk-a-thon the Mary Young Memorial Walk-a-thon in honor of one of our members who worked so diligently on the Walk-a-thon.

We challenge and welcome you to be a part of the future history of the ACH Guild Beach Branch.

Please contact us with any questions.

History

1920's
The ladies of St. Petersburg held a Charity Ball annually which was the highlight of St. Petersburg social season.   Monies raised were used to fund many charities in the area.  Society ladies would take the train to New York to buy ball gowns. In 1927 the ticket price for the ball was $7.50 and raised $22,000.00 

1943 - 1947
The Charity Ball was suspended due to World War II.

1949,
The ladies of St. Petersburg evolved into The American Legion Crippled Children's Hospital Guild to treat children many of whom suffered from  polio.

1950's
The Salk/Sabin Vaccines were discovered and eliminated the polio threat.

1960
A new hospital was erected at 801 Sixth St. South. The name was changed to Children's Hospital with a philosophy to treat all children conditions   The American Legion Crippled Children's Hospital Guild became the Children's Hospital Guild.

1967
The hospital adopted the theme from Carl Sandberg‘s poem "There is only one Child in all the world, and that child's name is All Children" and thus the All Children's Hospital and All Children's Hospital Guild began.

1970
No one seems to know for sure when the Beach Branch started (around 1971) but the general consensus is that it grew from a group of women who lived in the beach area and did not want to travel to downtown St. Petersburg for meetings.  It was originally known as the All Children's Hospital Guild Branch 1 then evolved into the Beach Branch. 

1972
One of our members Kay Iverson joined the Beach Branch and can remember having an Easter Bonnet Contest. They met at the Bath Club in Redington Beach. 

The big fundraiser for the Beach Branch has always been the Mrs. Santa Luncheon held on the first Wednesday of December.  Although the initial Mrs. Santa Luncheon was held in 1964 (prior to Beach Branch charter) it has always remained a function of the Beach Branch.  In the early days, Mrs. Santa was chosen from the general community for charity work, but is now chosen by a committee. The committee consists of the previous two Mrs. Santa's, the previous two Angels and a member at large.  The criteria for choosing a Mrs. Santa is an officer dedicated and commitment to the group who has actively participated in the fundraising efforts.  Many of our Mrs. Santa's have been Guild Council Chairs.

From early on the fashion shows for the Mrs. Santa Luncheon always incorporated Branch members, their spouses and children as models.  During the Bath Club days, they had "the Bird Watchers" area in the audience dedicated to the husbands and male guests who would hoot and whistle at the lovely models.  Mrs. Santa Luncheon/Fashion show has had many venues.  When it was held at the Bath Club in the 70's and 80's it would draw over 600 attendees - both men and women.

Mrs. Santa luncheon has been held at various locations including: Spoto's on Park Street, the Tradewinds, the Hilton Towers, the Sheraton Sand Key, and the Howard Johnson.

1980's
Besides the Mrs. Santa Luncheon, the Beach Branch was known for its Card Parties and mini luncheons held at the Treasure Island Community Center twice a year.  This has been an ongoing event since the early 80's and is still being held today.  These two events were the mainstays of the Beach Branch.

1985
Ellis Sexton, our 1985 Mrs. Santa, started the Love Light program that is still a Guild Council function today.  This is a way of honoring special achievements or the memory of special people in our lives.  A donation is given in the persons name and they are recognized at the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in early December

1985-1987
The Beach Branch held the Christmas Frosting Bazaar at the Bath Club.  Members would make and sell their arts and crafts.

1990's
Since 1993 the Mrs. Santa luncheon has been held at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.  It is considered the kick off to the Holiday Season because of the beautiful Holiday decorations, Mrs. Santa bags chuck full of presents and the wonderful door prizes available to attendees.

Our Angel of the Year is another award given by the Beach Branch. The Angel criteria are similar to the Mrs. Santa except you do not have to have been an officer of the Branch.  The Angel is chosen by the same committee as Mrs. Santa and is crowned at our May meeting before the installation of our officers. For many years  this was  a very special occasion with the Angel presentation and the installation of officers being held at a dinner meeting at the Wine cellar

In 1993 we started a book review at the Bath Club.  This evolved into the "Bit of Broadway musical/Luncheon/Fashion show from 1996 - 1998 then changed format again from 1999 - 2004 to the Afternoon of Nostalgia Luncheon and musical review of various composers. 

1998-1999
We held a fundraiser at the Tyrone Square Mall during the Telethon activities called Building Miracles - one quarter at a time - with a baseball theme and held our first d a Walk-A-Thon with the children from the Bay Pines Lutheran School that is still going strong today.  The children have raised close to $25,000 over the years.
We started collecting pennies in our Pennies from Heaven campaign where members bring their loose change to donate to ACH.

2002 - 2003
Conducted an Antique Appraisal Fair at the Treasure Island Community Center. This venue gave attendees an opportunity to have their treasures appraised for a fee that was donated to the Hospital.  The first fair took place on a day that a tropical storm was forming in the Gulf.  We were sure no one would show up but the lines were forming at 8:00 A.M. before we even opened the doors.  We actually had one person that had a tiffany bowl that was appraised in the thousands that had no idea it was so valuable.
We started a luncheon and fashion shows at Carrabba's Italian Restaurant.  Carrabba's graciously opens their restaurant for this event twice a year and donates the cost of the food to our cause. 

2004 -09
We have had a Pet Calendar featuring pictures of members' precious pets and in 2006 started a new fundraisers that we hope will become a big winner for the Beach Branch. - The Ducky Event - a cocktail party - with high end items for a silent auction and raffles that generated the most money ever raised by our group at a single event in our history the first year and surpassed it the second year.  We are hoping this grows to be a signature event for the Beach Branch. In 2007 we held our first ever Charity Cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line.   We made $11,000 for our first cruise while we all sailed the Caribbean and had a wonderful time.  The second and third cruise followed to the Mexican Riviera in 2008 and to the Panama Canal in 2009.
Using various banks in the area, we are promoting the sale of the Boyd's Bears at Christmas. Since we are the Beach Branch,  we started some fun Beach activities with various community organization for Mardi Gras and Labor Day Holidays

As we approach the 2009-10 year we have planned a continuation of some of our most fun profitable programs and will be adding a card Party which happened to be one of our former events. We also have renamed our Walk-a-thon the Mary Young Memorial Walk-a-thon in honor of one of our members who worked so diligently on the Walk-a-thon.

We challenge you to be a part of the future history of the ACH Guild Beach Brach