WICHITA, KAN. – Walmart and Sam’s Club stores across central and western Kansas raised more than $165,000 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at Via Christi Health during 2010. That total was 37 percent greater than the stores raised in 2009 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Participating stores included:

Arkansas City: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Augusta: Wal-Mart

Colby: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Derby: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Dodge City: Wal-Mart Supercenter

El Dorado: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Garden City: Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club

Goodland: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Great Bend: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Hays: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Hutchinson: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Liberal: Wal-Mart Supercenter

McPherson: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Newton: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Pratt: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Salina: Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club

Wellington: Wal-Mart Supercenter

Wichita: Wal-Mart Supercenter (E. Pawnee , W. Kellogg, N. Rock Road, W. 21st, E. Kellogg, N. Meridian)

Wichita: Sam’s Club (N. Rock Road and W. Kellogg)

Winfield: Wal-Mart Supercenter

The funds were raised through donations at the register, including purchase of “virtual balloons,” bake sales, rummage sales and cook-outs.

“Walmart and Sam’s Club are our leading national sponsor of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and have been for more than 23 years,” said Jill Bosley, director of development for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at Via Christi Health. “We so appreciate their leadership in support of Kansas kids and their families.

Each year, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals at Via Christi Health provides an estimated $1 million in direct medical assistance and grants to children in 64 south-central and western Kansas counties. It works in partnership with a network of six regional hospitals and foundations: St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, Central Kansas Medical Center Foundation in Great Bend, Salina Regional Health Center in Salina, William Newton Healthcare Foundation in Winfield, Via Christi Hospitals in Wichita, and Hays Medical Center in Hays.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® is an alliance of more than 170 hospitals across North America with two simple goals: help as many children as possible by raising funds for children’s medical services, and keep those funds in the communities in which they were raised.