This One's Personal: From Jon, Owner of Jolly RaleighWhy We Give to Duke Children's Hospital
I grew up in Raleigh, and Duke has been woven through my whole life, the good days and the hardest ones. My kids were born at Duke, healthy. I don't take that for granted for a single second, because I've also sat in those same halls while Duke cared for the people I love when things went the other way.
The People Behind This
My cousin Amie. My aunt Cindy (Ci-Ci). My grandmother Deloris. And right now, today, my mom Karen.
Amie carried health complications her whole life and passed at 36. Cindy passed at 41 and Deloris at 64, both to cancer. My mom Karen is 70 and in the fight as I write this. All treated with medicine and respect at DUMC.
I'm going to say the next part plainly, because my family didn't get to choose it. My Mother and Cindy's renal cell carcinoma trace back to something too many families in this part of North Carolina know firsthand: the PFAS that Chemours discharged into the Cape Fear River out of Fayetteville. Chemours has lost class-action suits over exactly these harms, and then the EPA settled with them behind closed doors. The affected States had no say and garner no cleanup funds from the backroom settlement.
I name them on purpose. The families downstream never got that kind of protection.
Why We Give
So when I tell you I understand what it is to have someone you love in a hospital bed, I'm not saying it to sell you lights. And the truth is, the main reason we give isn't any one name on that list; it's the struggle every family goes through when someone they love is sick. I've lived that struggle. Giving to Duke Children's Hospital is, honestly, the least I can do to stand beside the families going through it right now.
Why children specifically? Because they're just getting started. A kid in a hospital bed hasn't had a fair shot at the ordinary stuff yet. Helping give them a hand up feels like the most honest place I can put our money.
Where This Comes From
This goes all the way back for me. Growing up, we lived out past Westlake, the Middle Creek area now, and my mom worked on NC State's campus. Every morning was a good twenty-minute drive in, my dad or my mom at the wheel, the radio on and Bill Jordan in our ears. At home it was WRAL and Charlie Gaddy; I can still hear him reading the farm report, soybeans down fifteen cents this month.
And every year around Thanksgiving, they ran the Duke Children's Radiothon. They built a whole studio for it: rows and rows of volunteers on corded phones, movies playing, folks coming in and out with updates on the goal. One year Donny Osmond was on, and after my mom donated she waited hours just for the chance to say something to him. He was clearly exhausted, and he still stopped and thanked her. We'd sit at home as a family and cheer on the hourly goals like it was our team out there. I genuinely miss being able to watch that telethon. Some of my warmest memories of the Triangle are tied to it.
So giving to Duke Children's Hospital isn't a marketing line for me. It's how I get to honor North Carolina, my family, and those kids all at once; the same hospital and the same cause that shaped who I am growing up here.
How It Works
2% of every project we book goes straight to Duke Children's Hospital; every Christmas light install and every permanent RGB job adds to the season's total. And 100% of the proceeds from our Christmas Portrait Mini Sessions go to Duke Children's Hospital; every session booked is money straight to the kids.
$1,120
Donated Last Year
$10,000
This Year's Goal
2%
Of Every Project, Donated
Jon at the MIX 101.5 Duke Children's Radiothon, where Triangle listeners came together to raise $471,101.29 for Duke Children's in one day. Our 2% pledge adds to that same community effort.
Christmas Portrait Mini Sessions Are Back
This year we're running our Christmas Portrait Mini Sessions again, on the same festive backdrop our crews build for the season. 100% of every session booked goes straight to Duke Children's Hospital.
See Mini Session DetailsEvery Project Helps
When you light up your home with us, you're part of that; neighbors helping neighbors, and helping families having a much harder holiday than most of us. Get your instant quote and help us hit this year's goal.
Get an Instant QuoteIn memory of Amie, Cindy, and Deloris. For Karen, and for every family in the fight.