Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.198 | feat. Gracie Thorpe with The Crouse Health Foundation

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Good News York: Gracie Thorpe on Crouse Health Foundation’s Polo for Preemies and Supporting the NICU On Good News York, host Noah Chrysler interviews Gracie Thorpe, interim executive director of the Crouse Health Foundation, the fundraising arm of Crouse Hospital. Thorpe highlights the upcoming Polo for Preemies event on Sunday, July 26 at the Skaneateles Polo Fields, featuring a live polo match, food trucks, adult beverages, and a kid zone, with proceeds supporting Crouse’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). She explains how donations can be unrestricted or directed to specific funds, units, scholarships, or projects. Thorpe describes the NICU’s regional role across 14 counties with 17 affiliate hospitals, caring for about 900 infants annually, and notes event funds support equipment and other needs. She also mentions the Crouse Health Classic raising $320,000 for a transport isolette, and the Oct. 2 Tribute Evening honoring Melanie Littlejohn at Turning Stone. 00:00 Crouse Family Spirit 00:16 Welcome and Guest Intro 00:33 Polo for Preemies Overview 01:19 Planning and Community Partners 01:47 Foundation Fundraising Role 02:35 Where Donations Go 03:37 Inside the NICU Program 05:35 How Event Funds Help 06:11 Other Signature Events 06:57 Tickets and Volunteer Info 07:22 Tribute Evening Gala Preview 07:55 Why Gracie Loves the Work 09:15 Giving Myths and Tips 10:13 Final Thanks and Sign Off 10:40 Show Outro and Sponsor Plug

Krause Health is really a family. And I know a lot of people talk about that, right? But for me, it is going to work every day standing shoulder to shoulder with people doing incredible work. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Good News York. My name is Noah Chrysler. Today, my guest is Gracie. Gracie, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me.

We know I'm excited to be here. Absolutely. Go ahead and introduce yourself who you with. I'm Gracie Thorpe. I am the interim executive director for the Kraus Health Foundation, which is the fundraising arm of Kraus Hospital. Awesome. Cool. We were talking a little bit before the show, and you told me that you guys have an event coming up that sounds really cool. Can you tell us about that? Yes, I'd love to talk about it. So we have our upcoming polo for Premies, which is on Sunday, July 26, at the Skinny Atlas Polo Field. And it is actually a polo match. So lots of horses, a live game. but what I think makes the event so fun is it's really an event for all ages.

We have wonderful food trucks and ice cream and some adult beverages for our adults. And then we have a full kid zone, which has bounce houses and games, arts and crafts, pony rides. And all of the proceeds go to raising funds for our neonatal intensive care unit at Krause Hospital. Oh, wonderful. That's awesome. Cool, a polo match out in Skinny Alice. Tell me about this. What went into planning this? We're really, really fortunate that we have a great partnership with Marty and Amanda Craig who own the Skinny Atlas polo field.

And every year we're able to do this event with them. And what I think is so wonderful is how many people out in the community are going to a polo match, right? And it's something that happens in the weekends in August and July here in Skinny Atlas. And we love it because it gets to bring new people to this wonderful sport and raise money for a great cause. Wonderful. That's awesome. Okay. So you are the head of fundraising for Krause.

What is that like? What do you typically focus on? Yeah. So first, I have the best job in the world because I get to raise critical funds for the hospital. We raise money for all sorts of different things at the hospital that can be equipment, education, capital improvements, capital projects. So what we do at the foundation is just help raise those critical funds to support the hospital. This event in particular raises funds for our NICU, which is near and dear to my heart. my son was born at Krause Hospital. Luckily, he wasn't needing the NICU when he was born, but that was part of our conversation during my pregnancy.

And so to be able to raise these critical funds and help support the NICU is really such a gift and something we're so excited and proud to do. Awesome. When somebody donates to Krause, where does that money go? Great question. So you can really do a couple different things when you donate to the Krause Health Foundation.

One, it can go to unrestricted, which is where we can determine where the money is needed most. we have a great idea of what's needed, what are some of the projects we have in mind and so forth. You can also designate your funds to a special cause, to a special fund. At the foundation, we manage a number of funds that go to support a number of things, like scholarships for our continuing education. It can go to supporting a certain unit. So a lot of our gifts actually come from grateful patients.

So people like you and me who had an experience at Krause that was really moving or extraordinary, and we want to make a gift to the unit that took care of us, for example. So there's lots of different ways to support it, and that's the best part of the job, right, is we get to meet with these donors and talk about what's meaningful and important to them and then set up these opportunities for them at the hospital. So it's really quite rewarding. Awesome. Cool.

For now, this might be kind of a basic question. Sure. So I know that Cross has a NICU unit, which is like one of the best in the state, correct? Yes. Thank you for knowing that. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and what happens there and why it's so good? Sure.

So our neonatal intensive care unit, we cover 14 counties. So we go all the way down to Binghamton, all the way to Messina. And that's where we support our tiniest and littlest fighters. About 70% of all neonatal births are at our NICU. We transport patients from all different hospitals. we have 17 affiliate hospitals that we work with across the 14 counties. And it's really life-saving care that happens at our NICU. And, you know, what's really interesting is you'll see parents in their journey of their pregnancy

where they know the NICU is part of their journey, right? They know early on in their pregnancy that they're going to have to go to the NICU or you have people who had no idea, right? And at the last minute, something that their child needs care at the NICU, it's such an impressive thing that we offer in our community. It's something we're very proud of that we have an incredible staff, their highest level of neonatologist. And it's something that we're very, very proud to offer and to support so many. We take care of about 900 little fighters a year.

Wow. Yeah. It's a fairly large number. And I think a lot of times maybe you're not familiar with the NICU because maybe that wasn't part of your journey. But it is a service line that we offer that is an incredible. an incredible staff up there, an incredible program. And so to have this Polo for Premiums event that goes to support that is something that we at the foundation are very, very proud to do.

We have a small committee, a lot of volunteers who help make the event possible, and we're so happy that we're able to do it year after year. Wonderful. So if I come to Polo for Premies and I donate, does my money go to the department in general, or does it help certain families, or does it go to new equipment or training? So all of the above, really.

So the funds go to supporting the NICU so that can be purchasing a piece of equipment. It can be supporting the unit. It can be supporting a capital improvement or capital project. This year, it is going to a special piece of equipment. I'm not sure if it's fit to print yet. Oh, okay. But it is something that we'll be going to support a piece of equipment this year. Beautiful.

Okay. So in your role, we've got, we've got Polis for Prini's coming up. Have you thought after that? Yeah, so we actually do three signature events a year. We just wrapped our Kraus Health Classic event on June 15th, which raised a record-breaking $320,000. Wow. And those proceeds also went to our NICU,

which was really exciting that purchase of transport isolate. We have polo for preemies on July 26. Tickets are still available. We really hope to see people there. We're also looking for volunteers. So if you want to support in a different way, we're glad to have you. And then we have our Krause Health Tribute evening.

which is October 2nd, which is our big gala. And this year, we're very excited to announce that we are honoring Melanie Littlejohn of the Central Network Community Foundation. Oh, how cool. Yeah, I'm very excited. Beautiful. Where can people go to learn more and volunteer and get tickets for Polo for Pranis? Great.

So how you can get more involved with Polo for Primes, whether that's through supporting the event, attending the event, or volunteering, is just go to Kraus.org slash Polo 2026. And that's where you can find all of our contact information, all the information on how to support, volunteer, or join us on the day of. Beautiful. Tell us about this event after that one. What is that one? I want to hear about that.

So October 2nd is our 49th Krause Health Tribute evening honoring the incredible Melanie Little John. It is going to be at the brand new Turning Stone Casino Grand Expo. So really excited to be there. and that is a great way to celebrate honor Melanie as well as raised critical funds for the hospital. So really excited for that October 2nd. It's going to be a wonderful event. Awesome.

Cool. What do you like about doing this work when you go into work every day? It seems like you are a person that likes what you do. What do you like about doing it? What I love about Krause Health and what I get to do every day, Krause Health is really a family. and I know a lot of people talk about that, right? But for me, it is going to work every day standing shoulder to shoulder with people doing incredible work.

From the clinical side to the non-clinical side, I just love showing up every day and being a part of something that's much bigger than me and so important to the community. And my job in particular why I enjoyed so much is I get to meet with donors or prospective donors and listen to their story and hear. how Krause Health has touched them and impacted their life and then create an opportunity for giving. And, you know, it's really quite wonderful to see the generosity in our community and to be able to create opportunity for that is a privilege that's not lost on me. So to be able to work with people you really, really like who care about something much bigger than ourselves and get to meet with people that are so grateful for the experience, it's a really beautiful marriage and I get to do it every day. So I'm very, very fortunate and very lucky.

Wonderful. What are some things that people, most people don't know about donation and giving, especially to a cause like Krause and like those types of funds? Great question. So what I would say that people don't know about giving to Krause health is how easy it is. You can make a donation for really anything at the hospital. And no donation is too small. Of course, you know, we can find opportunities for any level of giving and anything that might be really special to you. You know, we've met with donors who say, I want to create a very specific fund that focuses on this specific thing or supports this specific specialty. And we can make that opportunity happen. You know, Krause is the only community hospital in the area. And so that creates a lot of

opportunity for us to be creative with giving and really meet the donors where they're at to create that opportunity for them. Awesome. Well, beautiful, is there anything that you wanted to talk about that we did not touch on? No, I just thank you so much for the opportunity. I hope to see many of you there at Polo for Premies on Sunday, July 26 at the Skinny Atlas Polo Fields, and we appreciate everyone's support. Yeah, that sounds really cool.

Hopefully maybe Danny and I can come out and watch some polo. I've never seen a polo match, and that sounds really cool with the horse and everything. It's very exciting. Yeah. Well, cool. Thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for watching.

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