On Friday, September 10, HRH hosted its first ever Pinewood Derby! The inaugural event, held at HRH Danville, was part of the kickoff to the 2021 Associate Giving Campaign and supported the HRH Foundation Grants Program. Associates were invited to submit entries as individuals or departments. In total, the Derby featured 49 entries from 20 individuals and 29 departments. This resulted in a contribution of $880 for the Campaign.

The idea to hold a Pinewood Derby at HRH can be attributed to Brent Fox and Josh Edwards, Trimedx/Clinical Engineering. “Brent and I were interested in doing this to raise money for the HRH Foundation and to eventually bring the community together to have some fun,” said Josh. “Once we gained approval to purchase the track and the software, it was full steam ahead!”

Josh took on the task of organizing the event with Emily Edwards, MBA, MPA, RN, Director of Quality, Performance Improvement and Innovation. They encountered a few challenges along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome. “Brent and I clocked about 10 hours each putting the track together,” said Josh. “Moving the track to the outdoor location and getting it set up to run on an unlevel surface was difficult as well. We had a couple of software glitches during the race, which caused us to have to re-run a couple of heat races. Overall, however, the derby went very well!”

“I applaud the ingenuity of the associates who transformed the derby from a dream to a reality,” said HRH President & CEO Kevin Speer. “I couldn’t be happier that our associates found a way to have fun while raising money for such a wonderful cause.”

Josh and Emily have decided this won’t be their last race. The two have big plans for the future. “We want to get more people involved,” said Josh “It truly is a lot of fun. We are pushing to get Hendricks County EMS, fire and police departments involved for a totally sweet community event!”