Sherri Hansen: A Word from the Incoming National Log A Load Chair

Hello. My name is Sherri Hansen, and it is an honor to be elected as the incoming Chair of the Log A Load For Kids® Foundation Advisory Committee. We would like to thank our past chair, Rich Palermo from Virginia, for his dedication to the Log A Load program. I’m sure Rich will continue to volunteer and support the program with all the enthusasium and energy he has in the past.

My husband John and I live in the small town of Chewelah in Eastern Washington. We have two grown children and three grandchildren that live very close to us. Over the past 40 years, our company has grown to include logging, log hauling, heavy equipment hauling, road construction, and rock products, and we now employ 45.

I have served on Washington State’s Log A Load For Kids committee since the Washington Contract Loggers Association started Washington’s Log A Load program 18 years ago, and I currently chair it.

Eighteen years ago a few WCLA members and staff made a trip to Spokane to a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital for a visit with the staff and some of the patients there. I remember how moved I was to hear the stories from the families about the care and compassion they received from the staff at the hospital, no matter what injury or illness they might have or the family’s ability to pay for the care they received. We knew we could help these children and their families by raising money through Log A Load. We are all so rewarded by doing so. Every minute 62 children enter a CMN Hospital for treatment. The numbers increase every year, and we will do whatever we can to raise funds to support CMN hospitals. If you have not yet visited one, I encourage you to do so. It will be a very touching and memorable experience.

Currently 30 states have Log A Load For Kids programs, supported by logging or forest products associations, to raise money directed entirely to their local children’s hospitals. We thank all of the associations for their support and sponsorship, which have raised over 40 million dollars for local children’s hospitals over the past 26 years.

In September CMN’s Director of Corporate Partnerships, Jared Wall, Rich Palermo, and I attended the American Loggers Council annual conference in Escanaba, Michigan. ALC provided wonderful hospitality and gave Rich the opportunity to speak about the Log A Load For Kids Foundation. We also thank STIHL for donating a chain saw that was auctioned off there, as well as winning bidder Mark Turner of Turner Logging Inc. from Banks, Oregon. Those funds, and other funds raised at the same event, went to children’s hospitals in Wisconsin.

Thanks to everyone at the ALC conference for your hospitality and support. We look forward to attending again this year.

Let’s all work together to make miracles happen for our children.

Please visit our web site, www.logaload.org, and let us know if there is anything we can do to help you. Also, be sure to let us know about your fundraising events, so we can put them on the site.

I wish you all a very Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Sherri Hansen, Chair
Log A Load For Kids Foundation
Sherrihansen181@gmail.com

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