With a mission to help Children's Hospital Central California, dozens of people lined up on the street at Blackstone and Shaw to help sell Kids Day newspapers.
Mateo Escobar, 12, is this year's Kids Day ambassador.
"It's such an honor to be the ambassador," said Mateo. "Gotta sell so many papers, so we can raise money for Children's Hospital. Just to give back to them, they saved my life."
Mateo has undergone multiple cardiac surgeries most of his life.
Nearly 5,000 volunteers spent time selling papers including Derek Carr's wife, Heather along with their baby Dallas. He spent weeks at the hospital after being born. It was an experience that impacted not only the Carr family, but the Fresno State football program.
Fresno State football coach Tim DeRuyter said, "Our greatest player here at Fresno State, Derek Carr, when his young son needed the help, Children's Hospital was there. And to be out here and support them and really do something with the community to show Children's how much we appreciate it."
Many community leaders were out at the Kids Day event taking donations. And many people who donated have been touched by Children's.
"My daughter, she spent six weeks in the NICU and they did a wonderful job," said Dennis Surabian. "She is healthy and it's a place to my heart."
Even Children's staff took some time off from the hospital to help in this worthy cause of bringing the best resources and care to Children's
"Those babies stay with us for months at a time. So having the services here in the Central Valley right here close to home and still get all that great care is really important."
The goal is to raise half a million dollars with money going toward everything from the oncology programs to the pediatric intensive care unit.
It takes about a million dollars to operate the hospital a day. So hospital officials say every donation at Kids Day counts. For more information about Kids Day 2014, click here.
