Annual Report 2023-2024

Rose Parade Our float in the 135th Rose Parade was titled Believe in Tomorrow . Keeping with the theme of the parade Celebrating a World of Music , at the front of the Shriners Children’s float was a very large cello player. Made of flowers, of course. This cello player, however, had a difference. She had a prosthetic right arm, sending the clear message that Shriners Children’s helps children achieve the tomorrow they want. Helping drive the message home were two patient ambassadors who rode the float and are themselves musicians, Juan Diego and Danna. Juan Diego, the international ambassador whose hands were badly burned, says that it was the care in our burn center at Shriners Children’s Boston that allows him to play the drums today. Danna, who was born with a congenital hand difference and needed a toe-to-hand transplant, which she received at Shriners Children’s Southern California, today plays the violin, which she carried with her on the float. “Shriners Children’s brought light and hope into my life with everything they have done for me since I was a little girl, and now as a teenager,” Danna said. “In my heart, I carry each person and doctor who was part of my journey.” Shriner volunteers help decorate our float. One such dedicated noble was Don Killmer, of the Ben Ali Shriners in Northern California. He came to lend a hand and brought his 85-year-old mother, his wife and his grown daughters. Don, a third-generation Shriner, said he was reliving his youth — he helped put together a Shriners Children’s float when he was 15. East-West Shrine Bowl The East-West Shrine Bowl moved to the Ford Center at the Star, in Frisco, Texas, a facility owned by the Dallas Cowboys. The East-West Shrine Bowl has moved multiple times in its existence, but no matter where the storied competition is held, it continues to draw top college athletes and raise the profile of Shriners Children’s and the amazing care the 81