Rady Children’s Hospital frequently hears about outside fundraisers in their honor, but this one might stand out for quite some time.
A picture of a gumball machine taken by an NBC 7 viewer inside an El Cajon taco shop shows key chains and necklaces made in the image of guns, bullets, and brass knuckles. The bottom of the machine has a sign with the price of the toy chains, 25 cents, along with the Rady Children’s Hospital logo.
The owner of the vending machine said that he was simply trying to raise funds for Rady, something that hospital officials say independent parties do all of the time.
While the hospital appreciates the effort and is grateful for the compassion, this just isn’t the type of fund raiser the hospital wants to be associated with.
“The activity does need to be in line with our mission, and this obviously was not in line with our mission, so it would not have been an approved activity" said Carol Daymon-Scherer, Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation Vice President of Development.
Daymon-Scherer says the vendor was very apologetic and promised to take the Rady Children’s Hospital sign out of the machine.
