On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, Phyllis Chace from Little Falls won the 27th annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) $100,000 Miracle Drawing. Proceeds of the fundraiser benefit Maternal Child Services throughout the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS).

“I always hold a special place in my heart for the health and welfare of children,” said Chace upon finding out she won the grand prize of $100,000. “I taught elementary school students for 40 years, and I wanted to support the charity because it is for children, and it is local.”

“I never really thought I would win. I don’t even know what the chances were for winning. I just mainly bought the tickets to support the charity,” she said.

“I was shocked!” Chace said about winning the drawing. The news that she won came to her over the television, but she wasn’t quite sure if she had won a smaller prize or the big prize until she received a phone call from a friend. She is planning to celebrate by taking her family out for dinner.

Chace has supported the Miracle Drawing since 2017. She purchased the winning ticket at the AmeriCU in Herkimer.

Since the Miracle Drawing began in 1996, over $9 million has been raised to benefit our local CMN Hospitals at MVHS. All of the money raised from the Miracle Drawing stays local and has enabled MVHS to do great things throughout the healthcare system. This year alone, funds were used to purchase much-needed equipment like cardiac monitors and all new bassinets in addition to providing needed financial assistance to support pediatric rehab programs such as speech, physical, and occupational therapy and offer programs for children and their parents to educate them on proper nutrition and diabetes prevention.

Partners of the $100,000 Miracle Drawing are WKTV NEWSChannel 2, AmeriCU Credit Union, GPO Federal Credit Union, and PJ Green.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who supported this year’s campaign,” said Debbie Wainwright, CMN Hospitals Program Director for MVHS. “This is a huge effort, and through the outpouring of generosity in our community, we have once again sold all of the 4,300 available tickets. The funds raised this year will make a huge impact in the lives of many families being cared for here at MVHS, especially as we are looking forward to the opening of the Sammon Family Birthing Center in the new Wynn Hospital.”

For more information and to view the recipients of the six bonus prizes, call the MVHS Foundation at 315-624-5600 or visit mvhealthsystem.org/CMN.