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Keith Urban fans give children’s hospital 150 stuffed monkeys
FRANKLIN, Tenn.—We’ll forgive you if you need a little backstory to understand the headline.
Every year, around Valentine’s Day, members of country star Keith Urban’s official fan club form a collection to bring love to children’s hospitals around the world. They do this by collecting and distributing brand new stuffed monkeys for the little patients.
Why stuffed monkeys?
It comes from “Monkeyville,” the original name of Urban’s fan club. Now known as just “The ‘Ville,” its members organize online, as they’ve done for the past 12 years, to collect their signature item.
The Monroe Carell Jr Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt at Williamson Medical Center was very grateful to be among the facilities in the U.S., Australia, and Canada selected to benefit from the drive. The ‘Ville members Lisa Powell and Deb Meissner, who are both based in Middle Tennessee, made the trip to us in Franklin with a car full of monkeys; donating 153 of them to our young patients!
This grassroots effort started in Connecticut, when fans there collected only a couple dozen stuffed monkeys to distribute around their area. Since then, the drive has grown leaps and bounds—now including participating fans in 38 states and nine countries.
As an example of their dedication to the cause, the members challenged themselves to collect 1,800 monkeys to distribute this year. When the counting was done, they had 2,711 ready to be sent out!
Keith Urban is fortunate to have such a caring fanbase, and we so very thankful that they chose us as part of the annual drive. Young patients are already feeling the love.
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