St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Foundation’s 2025 Heroes Ball
The Heroes Ball, an annual black-tie event with a rich 30+ year history, benefits St. Joseph's Children's Hospital. It attracts an audience of more than 600 guests to enjoy an upscale and elegant evening to raise support for St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.
Saturday, April 5, 2025
JW Marriott Tampa Water Street
510 Water Street, Tampa, FL 33602
For event information, please contact Corina.Wian@baycare.org
Thank You to our 2025 Heroes Ball Co-Chairs:
Casey Ellison
Sam Ellison
2025 Heroes Ball Sponsor and Reservation Opportunities:
Benefiting the Nurse Navigator Program at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital:
Imagine your child has just been diagnosed with a life-altering illness. Your world feels like it’s been turned upside down. Suddenly there are so many appointments to make, specialists to find, new medications and side effects consider. There are complicated procedures, a new dietary plan, lifestyle changes that will impact your whole family, insurance complexities and financial burden. You are overwhelmed - unsure how to tackle this new reality while knowing regular life has to continue.
Now envision after the clinical team shares this difficult news and long path ahead, an extra member of the team walks in. This person starts by making sure you understand everything the doctor has shared, answers questions you have and walks you through what needs to happen between now and the next visit. They help you find specialists and make appointments, show you how to administer the new medications, are there to support your family during hospital stays and continue that support once you go home with virtual monitoring, traversing all the everyday questions and being a constant source of support for months or even years.
That extra member of the team is called a Nurse Navigator. Nurse Navigators help families navigate the healthcare system and are a guiding light through the scariest of times. They are a medical support person helping provide guidance during hospital stays, consult on complicated medical decisions and preparing families for what needs to happen once they are home. They are a lifeline, a constant resource throughout the child’s journey to ensure the caregivers have everything they need.
St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital has a need for five additional Nurse Navigators which will double the size of our current team. Currently, our nurse navigators support cardiology, oncology, and our high-risk obstetrics team. The new navigators will support families with aerodigestive needs (think lungs, gastro-intestinal, digestive with illnesses like Crohn’s), neurology needs (think brain, spine, developmental, epilepsy and autism), neonatal needs (think babies in the NICU and with developmental needs), endocrinology and rheumatology (think diabetes). The role is non-billable yet brings incredible support to families as they move through a stressful care plan for their child. Nurse navigators often feel like a member of the family to the patient, while also helping the hospital build the interdisciplinary and innovative teams of the future.
Your support will make this incredible resource possible to help the families of our littlest heroes so they have the very best chance to grow and thrive.
Honoring Our 2025 Community Heroes: Ronald and Joyce Wanek
This year, we are honored to present the Community Hero Award to Ronald and Joyce Wanek, whose extraordinary commitment to children’s health care, education, and community well-being has transformed countless lives. Through their visionary leadership at Ashley Furniture, the Waneks have championed initiatives that bring hope and healing to children in need. Their philanthropic spirit shines through programs like Hope to Dream, which has provided over 180,000 children with beds for better sleep, and Ashley’s Angels, which provides essential items and gifts to local children during the holiday season. The Waneks’ dedication extends to vital medical research partnerships with City of Hope and HeartWorks, while also supporting beloved community traditions like the Children’s Gasparilla Parade in Tampa Bay. Their commitment to education is equally remarkable, with over $12.4 million donated to STEM education initiatives in 2023-2024 alone, benefiting more than 15,000 students across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Their generosity has not only advanced medical research and education but has also created a ripple effect of positive change throughout our community. Join us as we celebrate Ron and Joyce Wanek’s remarkable legacy of compassion and their tireless efforts to ensure a brighter, healthier future for children in need.
Thank You to Our 2025 Sponsors:
Presenting
Oceanic
The Wanek Family and Ashley Furniture Industries
Crystalline
Clay Health & Care
Luminous
Ellison Construction
Hit Promotional Products
Lockton Companies
Rooms To Go Foundation
Iridescent
Howard and Deanna Bayless
Laurice A. Hachem- Fountain Oaks Business Center, Inc.
Jason and Courtney Kuhn
Lutes Family Foundation
Pediatrix
Purple Square Management Co.
The New York Yankees Foundation
Azure
Adcock Financial Group
Computacenter
Excelis Medical Associates
Holland & Knight, LLP
Integrity Employee Leasing
Tranquil
Baker Barrios Architects, Inc.
Bennett and Heather Barrow
BayCare
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP
BSA LifeStructures, Inc.
Carlton Fields
Rick and Jan Colón
Dr. Barbara Cook/Cook Family Foundation
Dentsu Health
Dutkowsky Family
Scott and Kathy Fink
Fintech
Florida Real Estate Associates
Gilbane Building Company/Page
Graze/CI Group
Gresham Smith/Walter P. Moore
Erica Dhawan Gupta and Rahul Gupta
Inpatient Specialist Group
JP Morgan Private Bank
Sid and Donna Jordan
Kimmins Contracting Corporation
Kisinger Campo & Associates
Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Lecavalier
Level 6 Forum
Microsoft
Nunn Family Foundation
Vik and Sneha Patel
Tad and Barbara Phelps
Power Design
Raymond James
Harvey and Cherie Schonbrun
Shumaker
Rhianna and Mihir Taneja
The Bank of Tampa
Thomas Financial
Dr. Lauren and Charles Weiner
2024 Heroes Ball Highlights:
