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Miss America's First Day: 'Priceless' Visit To All Children's Hospital

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Miss America, Katie Stam, puts her crown on the head of Angeli Meledez, age 7, at All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Miss America made her first visit this morning as the official goodwill ambassador for the Children's Miracle Network, an organization that raises millions each year for hospitals across the country.

And she did so at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

"This is my very, very first day on the job," said Katie Stam, 22, who was Miss Indiana before she was crowned Miss America on Jan. 24. "I've been so excited and so anxious to start this work."

With a bevy of photojournalists shadowing her every move, Stam visited the neonatal intensive care unit, asking charge nurses questions, telling babies they were beautiful, and lending comfort and words of encouragement to parents and grandparents.

Most of the time, she wore her crown, which is made of Austrian crystal. Later, she would take it off in a playroom to let some older children try it on. She also donned some of the crowns the children fashioned out of colored paper and glitter.

"The reactions I get from children, especially when I have the crown on my head, are absolutely priceless," Stam said.

Art McMaster, the president and chief executive officer of the Miss America Organization, said Stam was in the Tampa Bay area as a result of the Super Bowl. The Taste of the NFL had invited her as part of its effort to raise money for food banks, and she obliged.

The next stop was All Children's, he said.

Warren Junium, a representative for the Children's Miracle Network, said the fundraising nonprofit organization and the Miss America Organization have been working together for more than 20 years. Miss America was made the official ambassador for Children's Miracle Network three years ago.

Her role is to bring attention to the work that hospitals do for their respective communities, Junium said. And it looked as if Stam was already having that effect, as family members told her in front of television cameras of the quality health care their loved ones have received at All Children's.

"I think she's pretty comfortable," Stam told Ellen Cooper as they stood over the crib where Cooper's 17th grandchild, Isabella Overend, lay. The infant was born with heart defects on Dec. 24.

"The technology they have – it's mind-boggling," Cooper told Stam.

Stam is expected to visit 170 hospitals peppered throughout the United States during her year-long reign, McMaster said. While she does, beauty contest winners at the state and regional level will help with raising money for individual hospitals through fundraising efforts such as telethons, Junium said.

The Children's Miracle Network raises $230 million a year for those affiliated hospitals Junium said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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