Making Birthdays Brighter for Children in Need

By Elizabeth Walker | March 19 2019

On Friday, March 15th, the Department of Pathology’s Division of Quality and Health Improvement hosted Be a Birthday Leprechaun to benefit children in need in Washtenaw County. Faculty and staff joined together over the lunch hour to make 209 birthday bags containing cake making supplies, decorations, gifts, and more, that will be distributed via Food Gatherers.

The bag items were donated by members of the department as well as Little Caesar’s Pizza on Stadium in Ann Arbor. Discounts on children’s gifts were given by Vault of Midnight and Bookbound. Additional funds donated on the day of the event will supply 261 regular meals to families and individuals needing support.

Laboratories competed against each other to win a pizza party and the winning group was Molecular Diagnostics, MMGL and the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology with a total of 541 points. The University Hospital group came in second place with a total of 430 points and the Informatics and Ops team took third with a total of 321 points.

Yinru Sieracki, from our electron microscopy lab, won the ping pong tournament and took home a handcrafted trophy and a $25 gift certificate to Starbucks.

Thanks again to all who donated their time, resources, and money to make the event a success!