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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: