Cool Down St. Louis Kicks-off Special Fundraising Effort At Busch Stadium In Honor of its Booster, The St. Louis Cardinals Pitcher Darryl Kile, to Help Area Disabled, Elderly and Critically Ill Children Stay Cool This Summer

Cool Down St. Louis, a regional non-profit agency helping the elderly, disabled and critical ill children with their high electric bills and the purchase of air-conditioners this summer, has announced that it will host the first annual “Shake Our Cans and Cool Down The Needy” special collection outside of Busch Stadium on Friday, June 28 at 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, June 30, at 11:15 a.m., two hours before the St. Louis Cardinals play the Cincinnati Reds.

More than 100 employees of UMB Bank, Hardee’s and the Pasta House Co. will volunteer to accept donations from St. Louis Cardinals fans.  The volunteers will be clad in special yellow T-shirts, bearing a number “57” on the left shelves, collecting tax-deductible cash or check donations in huge cans.  Reverend Earl E. Nance, Jr., vice chairman of Cool Down St. Louis announced this past weekend that the cooling assistance program had only $200 in the bank.

In addition, Hardee’s Food Systems, Inc., announced that its two franchise restaurants in-stadium will donate the entire sales proceeds of their french fries orders at $2.50, each  to Cool Down St. Louis in honor of Darryl Kile.

The UMB Bank has also announced that it will begin collecting donations from its customers, through  its “Shake Our Cans” campaign beginning on Friday, June 28 for a one week period.  UMB Bank has19 locations in Missouri and Illinois. Banking customers will be able to drop-off tax-deductible donations into huge canisters on display at each bank center.

The St. Louis Cardinals are cooperating with the cooling assistance charity, since the late Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile served as its summer honorary chairperson last year, and had made a commitment to work with Cool Down St. Louis again this year, according to the Reverend Earl E. Nance, Jr., vice chairman of the board of directors of Cool Down St. Louis, the cooling program of Heat-Up St. Louis, Inc.

“Mr. Kile had a charitable soul and a concern  for helping those without air-conditioning,”said Nance. “His sudden death is a devastation to us all, and he aided us in raising more than $30,000 last summer with efforts like Cool Down St. Louis at Busch. This year we will do it in his honor.”

Although the St. Louis Cardinals have held official memorials on behalf of Mr. Kile, Cool Down St. Louis officials will ask the Cardinals to let Reverend Nance provide special remarks regarding Darryl Kile’s support of the cooling assistance program, during the on-field ceremony scheduled for Friday, at about 6:30 p.m.

For those not attending either Cardinals games this weekend, they may send a tax-deductible donation to Cool Down St. Louis, c/o UMB Bank, P.O. Box 868, St. Louis, MO 63188, or donate by charge card through its website at  www.cooldownstlouis.org.