Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan blesses Virtua Health’s Pediatric Mobile Services Unit van June 30 in Camden. (Dave Hernandez)
CAMDEN — To the strains of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” performed by Camden music students, children giggled as they played with bubbles in front of a van adorned with the logo: “Joseph Lacroce Foundation. Driven to Care for Kids.”
“Bless the journeys of this van, and those who will be served by it,” Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan said to the crowd comprising city and church leaders, Virtua Health staff and benefactors. “May the children enjoy good health, and in grow in wisdom, age and grace.”
The celebration June 30 at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Camden marked the third year of Virtua’s Pediatric Mobile Services Unit, which aids the health and wellness needs of underserved children.
Since 2018, the mobile transport has helped more than 6,500 children up to age 12 in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties receive free health screenings, flu shots and physicals. Services also include oral health education and referrals.
In addition to Bishop Sullivan, other guest speakers included Victor Carstarphen, Camden mayor, and Sam Lacroce, a local philanthropist and member of Christ the King Parish, Haddonfield, whose $1 million donation from his Joseph Lacroce Foundation made possible the mobile services unit. The foundation is named in memory of his son, who died from leukemia in 1975 at age 12.
Philanthropist Sam Lacroce and Virtua’s Maria Emerson enjoy greeting children during the unit’s third anniversary celebration. (Dave Hernandez)
The day’s events represented a “tremendous accomplishment” in helping Virtua Health enhance its services to the community, said Reggie Beckett, Virtua board member and past Supreme Director of the New Jersey State Knights of Columbus. In the past, he and his brother Knights have provided donations to Virtua’s Eat Well Mobile Grocery Store, which offers healthy food at below-market prices to the underserved in Camden and Burlington counties.
“The earlier we reach children, the more significant our intervention can be – setting kids up for a lifetime of good health,” said Maria Emerson, director of rehabilitation for Virtua’s pediatric and community-based services.
“Nothing is as rewarding as seeing the smile of a child or the sense of relief on a parent’s face when we provide services and solutions,” she said.
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