21st Annual Aon Step Up for Kids Raises More Than $600K
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- More than 2,500 climbers of all ages participated Sunday in the Aon 'Step Up for Kids' event, an annual stair climb to the top of Chicago's tallest skyscrapers.
Step Up for Kids, which was presented by KPMG, is organized by K.I.D.S.S. for Kids, an fundraising organization affiliated with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
According to an event organizer, each participant was committed to raising a minimum of $150. All proceeds raised will benefit Lurie Children's Department of Family Services, a division of the hospital that focuses on the mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of patients and their families.
1,643 steps, 80 flights - all for the kids! Thank you to all our climbers who stepped up for every child today at the 21st Annual Aon Step Up for Kids presented by KPMG! ???????? #stepupforkids #all4your1 pic.twitter.com/ndmfuR1aSL
— Lurie Children's (@LurieChildrens) January 28, 2018
Among those climbing the 80 flights of the Aon building, 200 East Randolph Street, are friends and relatives supporting a 21-month-old who has spina bifida, a birth defect in which a developing baby's spinal cord fails to develop properly. She has been going to Lurie Children's Hospital since before she was born.
Her mother says the family services team has helped her immensely. "We had a place to stay, we had parents who experienced similar things coming and contacting us and just telling us ways to advocate and participate and how to get the best care for our daughter."
Organizers say the 21st annual Step Up for Kids raised $618,698.65.
The event ran from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Sunday.