The operative word is ambitious. The result has been nothing less than extraordinary. Launched in the spring of 2010, Children's Hospital of Orange County created a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $125 million to fund the remodel and restoration of Orange County's premiere pediatric health facility. Last Saturday evening in Newport Beach, close to 500 guests converged upon the Island Hotel for the fifth annual CHOC Cherishes Children gala, raising some $900,000 toward the ultimate campaign goal. Despite economic concerns, the figure is up from $600,000 raised from 2011 at the gala, an astounding increase.
The new health facility is set to debut Feb. 2 in Orange and open officially late in the spring. CHOC authorities are calling it "seven stories of cutting-edge care." The new children's hospital will serve the Orange County family as one of the most advanced pediatric-care centers in the nation. In addition, the fundraising campaign, which runs through June of this year, has as part of its goal establishing an endowment that will be used to recruit the top pediatric experts in both clinical research and patient care, in affiliation with the UC Irvine School of Medicine.