Together With Important Goals

 In 1887, Lois Whitney, a member of the Rochester City Hospital's Board of Managers, assembled a group of friends in her home to provide sewing assistance to the hospital.  In addition to accomplishing a worthwhile project for the hospital, they had a wonderful time together and thus continued to meet regularly.  They decided that they were not large enough to become a "branch" of the hospital organization and instead humorously referred to themselves as a "twig." By the 1890's, other "Twigs" had formed in service to the hospital and the projects began to expand.   Meanwhile, sewing circles in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio were meeting to make sheets and blankets for the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and it soon became clear that Columbus needed its own hospital, a facility that would care for all sick children regardless of their race, creed or ability to pay.  In 1890, Mrs. James Kilbourne, on behalf of the King's Daughters of St. Paul Episcopal Church, hosted a tea in her home that raised the initial $125 of the hospital building fund. On February 1st, 1894 Children’s Hospital was built consisting of nine beds and was located where Franklin Park South is today.  There was so much need that an additional twenty-five bed wing was added in 1900. By 1916, The Womens Board, led by Mrs. Truitt B. "Daisy" Sellers, managed the hospital and determined that the annual operating budget of $10,000 was insufficient.  Mrs. Sellers had the good fortunate of meeting a mother and daughter from Rochester, New York, who shared with her the wonderful work of the Rochester Twigs. Mrs. Sellers was so inspired that she led the formation of a Columbus organization of Twigs, making it the second oldest in the nation.  Both Mrs. Kilbourne and Mrs. Sellers were charter members of the original Twig, which was later given the designation of Twig2, so that the hospital nurses who wanted to have their own Twig, would be known as Twig1. Nationwide Children’s Hospital has grown into a state-of-the-art facility offering care to many children nationwide.  The Twig organization also grew with the changing needs of Nationwide Children's and has become an important part of the hospital foundation, earning it the acronym: Together With Important Goals (TWIG).