Kosair Shriners and Kosair Charities

We are often asked how Kosair Shrine Temple and our charitable arm Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. support the medical care of children. We support the Shriners Hospitals for Children with our time, talent, and treasure. We have two members of Kosair Shriners serving on the board of the Shriners Hospital for Children - Lexington Unit. One of our Nobles was the chairman of the board of that hospital. Our volunteers transport children at no charge to and from the Shriners hospitals in Lexington and Cincinnati in our three vans. We have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct support to the Lexington hospital as well as hundreds of thousands in support of the national system. We have one hundred percent of our membership as Permanent Contributing Members of the national system.

Shriners Hospitals for Children

Perhaps it is best to begin with a brief review of Shriners Hospitals for Children. One can then better understand our unique history and continuing role with children.

How the Ancient and Accepted Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and its charitable arm the Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children as it was once known got involved with the charitable medical care of children is an interesting history. Noble W. Freeland Kendrick of Lu Lu Temple in Philadelphia is said to have visited the Home for the Incurables in Philadelphia "for the purpose of taking three or four of the little human wrecks of that institution for an automobile ride." In 1920, Noble Kendrick subsequently encouraged the national membership through his office of Imperial Potentate to "inaugurate a movement among the Shriners of North America for rehabilitating orphaned, friendless, crippled children." (The Book of Boumi, p. 173)

Reports from Imperial Council meetings of the time indicate that St. Louis was expected to be first chosen for a Shrine Hospital. Ultimately the first hospital unit was built in Shreveport. That hospital was established in September, 1922. Other hospitals followed in Honolulu in 1923; Minneapolis and St. Paul, 1923; San Francisco, 1923; Portland, 1923; St. Louis, 1924; Montreal, 1925; Springfield, 1925; Chicago, 1926; Philadelphia, 1926; and Greenville, 1927.

A Shriners Mobile Unit was established in Lexington, Kentucky on November 1, 1926. The Shriners Mobile Units were not established as free-standing hospitals built and owned by the Shriners, but in rented quarters in existing hospitals.

Kosair Crippled Children Hospital

In 1926 Kosair Shrine Temple opened its own free hospital for crippled children. The name of the hospital was Kosair Crippled Children's Hospital. The hospital was owned by Kosair Charities Committee, Inc., aka Kosair Charities, the charitable arm of Kosair Shrine Temple. The hospital had important partnerships in caring with the medical college, the Kentucky Society for Crippled Children, and the Crippled Children Commission of Kentucky.

By the 1980s the medical needs of children had changed. The board of directors of Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. acted on the advice of the medical community to combine medical services with another hospital to provide a more full range of care for children. The other hospital was Childrens Hospital, a part of what was then known as Norton Infirmary.

A new entity was created named Kosair Children's Hospital. The hospital opened in 1986. Imperial Shrine officers attended the opening ceremonies. The hospital is considered by many to be one of the best pediatric acute care hospitals in America. The hospital is not owned by Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. It is owned by Norton Healthcare. The hospital has a board of trustees. One of our Nobles serves as a trustee.

Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. has provided more than $70,000,000 in charitable support for the hospital since the 1980s. The former and current medical directors, the administrator, and other medical professionals have publicly said that the hospital would not exist if it were not for our Kosair Shriners. It is important to note that each member of Kosair Shrine Temple is also a member of Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. Thus each Kosair Shriner can be proud of the medical miracles that occur daily in the hospital.

Kosair Charities

Kosair Shrine Temple was and is permitted by the Imperial Council to have such an entity as Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. Kosair Charities Committee, Inc. is a separate charitable corporation under the laws of Kentucky. Interestingly, at one time there were sixteen Shrine Temples with their own charitable organizations including three with hospitals. We are the last one.

Our charitable efforts affect the lives of countless children and their loved ones. Children from hometowns throughout Kentucky, southern Indiana, and the nation benefit from the care and compassion found at Kosair Children's Hospital. Additional children receive specialized care at the Shriners Hospital Lexington Unit and the entire Shrine hospital system. Medical research we help fund at the University of Louisville School of Medicine will provide care for generations of children yet born. Children in need of long-term care and without hope of a normal life have a modern medical facility thanks to our funding of the new Home of the Innocents, the only such skilled pediatric care facility in Kentucky.

Our more than $120 million of support since the 1980s of these efforts as well with other child care initiatives gives evidence that Kosair Shriners are continuing the legacy of love and compassion for children that began more than eighty years ago. We believe any claim we make to being noble comes from this work we do for others.