The previous record donation was $1.16 million in 2022. This latest donation was raised at this year’s cha/cha fundraising gala, which is a biennial event. It took place at the Dayton Arcade on June 1.
The Women’s Board Auxiliary of Dayton Children’s was founded in 1964 and has since raised more than $6 million for the hospital, according to Dayton Children’s. The Women’s Board has a membership of 40 women whose major fundraising project is the biennial gala and auction.
Dayton Children’s is in the midst of expanding its behavioral health services, including constructing a $110 million behavioral health building on its main campus off of Valley Street in Dayton. That building is expected to open in 2025.
All funds raised during the event will support mental health initiatives and contribute to the new behavioral health building set to open next summer. The new building will create a continuum of care that will enable the hospital to:
- Improve continuity of care by co-locating a full continuum of mental health services, including inpatient, outpatient and crisis services.
- Increase number of children leaving crisis center and inpatient unit who are connected to outpatient therapy.
- Expand bridge therapy to help kids connect to timely therapy services.
- Recruit and retain mental health staff.
- Provide customized outdoor space to add to children’s healing.
This year’s gala was presented by altafiber and supported by Diamond sponsors Danis Building Construction and Encore Technologies.
In addition to the new behavioral health building on its main campus, Dayton’s Children’s is planning a $12 million behavioral health campus at 300 West Tech Road in Miamisburg, adjacent to the existing Dayton Children’s South Campus. It is projected to open in fall 2024.
Dayton Children’s also recently combined multiple programs geared toward mental health to create its new Center for Emotional Wellbeing, located at Dayton Children’s Connor Child Health Pavilion.
Dayton Children’s Hospital is one of 31 independent freestanding children’s hospitals in the country, and it is the Dayton region’s only hospital dedicated to children. Dayton Children’s serves 20 Ohio counties and eastern Indiana, and they care for more than 320,000 children each year.
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