‘The incredible power of community’

Research Coordinator Shahenaaz Sunderji creates peer-to-peer fundraisers to celebrate big milestones, inviting family and friends to support Children’s Health℠.

About five years ago, Shahenaaz Sunderji considered how to celebrate her 20th anniversary at Children’s Health. 

The milestone was big, and she wanted to give back to the place she had seen consistently provide life-changing, compassionate care to families, including her own. 

Shahenaaz opted to start a fundraiser and, without expecting much, asked friends and family in a mass email to join her in commemorating her work anniversary by donating $20. 

“I am on a personal mission,” she wrote in the email. “And this is where I need your help.” 

She aimed to raise at least $2,000 to support the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, where she works as a clinical research coordinator.  

“The response was crazy,” she said. 

In just a couple of weeks, she exceeded her goal — raising more than $5,000 in monetary donations and gift cards for teenage patients who aren’t as drawn to stuffed animals and toys. Her younger daughter even got involved and set up a sidewalk lemonade stand on the weekend, explaining to people walking by that it wasn’t for money but donations. 

“This is my way of giving back. It's my way of making a difference,” Shahenaaz said. “I feel like I'm doing good, and that's important to me and very important in my traditions, culture and faith.” 

Last year, after realizing the impact one email can have, Shahenaaz launched another fundraising campaign to celebrate her 25th anniversary at Children’s Health, urging friends and family to consider donating $25 this time.  

Like before, she surpassed her goal, raising $4,580. 

“I am reminded once again of the incredible power of community and the impact we can make when we come together for a common cause,” she wrote in her donation page. “Your support has been overwhelming and a source of strength and inspiration.” 

Peer-to-peer fundraisers are one of the ways Children’s Health team members can support the hospital system as it grows and expands to care for a rapidly growing pediatric population.  

After setting up a donation page, team members can designate their fundraiser to different programs at Children’s Health, ensuring each dollar raised goes directly to their area of choice. 

For more than 25 years, Shahenaaz has worked in clinical research from opening new studies to coordinating and maintaining active studies at the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. She fondly remembers how much smaller Children’s Health was back then. 

 Working closely with investigators and research teams, she ensures that all studies comply with state and federal regulations — keeping Children’s Health at the forefront of pediatric medicine and allowing for the development of new treatments and a greater understanding of disease and childhood conditions. 

“I always feel good when I leave work because I feel like I’m making a difference,” she said. “And I’ve already seen the impact of my work because there’s been so many advances in childhood cancer, and I feel like I’ve been a part of that.” 

She enjoys toiling with the intricacies and challenges that come with the role. But as someone whose parents instilled the importance of service in her, recognizing the part she plays in the hospital system’s mission to make life better for children fuels her work.  

Shahenaaz doesn’t usually interact with patients, but her work reaches deep into the lives of the families receiving care at Children’s Health today and in the future. 

“Studies and clinical research have a big, positive impact in their lives and in their futures through their children,” she said. “It's not just the children that we’re helping. We're making a difference in the lives of their parents, their grandparents, their uncles, their cousins — we’re taking care of the whole family.” 

Shahenaaz is proud of her lengthy career at Children’s Health. She no longer needs to walk through the hospital to remind herself of the impact the hospital system has on children in North Texas and beyond. 

“Our mission is ingrained within me,” she said.