Chester and Draven Visit Cardon Children's

Chester, Draven and the DeLeo brothers (STP) visited Cardon Children's Medical Center yesterday. Check out photos and videos below. Here is a quote from an article from AZCentral:

“It’s a beautiful place,” the singer said during a press conference. “The parents we met today were great and they’ve had a great experience here today. We saw a baby that was a little over a pound all the way to another baby that was born here with the same weight and now a full eight pounds and is ready to go home soon hopefully.” Bennington, a father of six, was especially interested in the neonatal intensive care unit because he and wife Talinda have twin babies that were born premature. During his visit, he met children who were also born before full-term pregnancies and spoke with parents and staff members who were clearly touched by his dedication to the community and hospital. “We live a very blessed kind of life and we get to do things that require very little effort in a lot of ways, so giving back for me has always been an obligation to give my thanks to the communities that supported what I do in my bands,” Bennington said. “I feel that when you reach a certain level of success, I think that it becomes imperative that you do things for the community.”

  

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Videos: KPHO, David Kinsler, and MyFoxPhoenix

Credit: Louvau Photography (images)

Thanks: Kamila for the emails about the videos. ;)

Lots of Cardon Children's Center photos + AZ Lifestyle article

AZ Lifestyle covered Chester and his involvement with Cardon Children's Medical Center in an online magazine. You can check it out in PDF here or in the gallery.

CBN uploaded a ton of pictures from the Bennington's recent trip to the center. Go there to see them all. I uploaded some of the ones that haveTalinda in them, here.

 I've also added the 2 pictures from AZ Lifestyle here.

Huge thanks to Chester Bennington Network for getting all these pictures and for finding the article. :) Also thanks to Tensh_iie for letting me know about them.

More Pictures courtesy of CBN and MSC

Gia and Kamila let me know that Mike Shinoda Clan and Chester Benninton Network have pictures from the Gala so I have uploaded them to the gallery.

2 more Cardon's visit pics

Thanks Silvia for letting me know about this one:

And this one from MSC:

The Linkin Lady Stars of the Season 2012 album can be found here!

Cardon visit picture

Here is another picture from the 3rd Stars of the Season event. I don't know who to credit (found it on google images) but it is obviously from someones Instagram.

I also wanted to share this tribute video from Cardon Children's Medical Center:

The Benningtons visit Cardon patients in Mesa

Chester, Talinda and Ted Stryker on a local tv channel. Thanks Kamila!

azcentral:

Bennington is good with kids, getting the patients, who range in age from 12 to 17, to talk about video games, social media, sports and other interests after setting the tone for his visit by going around the table asking them how old they were, then saying “I wish I was any of those ages.”
Whether sitting with children or rocking the mike at the benefit, donating time at the hospital is a family affair for the Phoenix-born rocker, who lives in Gilbert with his wife, Talinda, their children and Bruiser, the family’s Boston Terrier, who also volunteers at CCMC as a therapy dog.
Bruiser couldn’t make the Friday meet-and-greet, but Talinda was there, as was the host of this year’s benefit, L.A. radio personality Ted Stryker.
It was Talinda, a Stars of the Season advisory council member, who initiated the Bennington family’s involvement in the hospital.
“She got involved before the hospital was even built,” the rocker says. “She initially wanted to do the dog therapy program. So we got one of our dogs involved. But my wife is very charismatic and outgoing, so immediately, she was on the board. And she helped organize the entertainment for the benefit. I, of course, support her in all the things she loves to do and she’s a really giving person. So it’s hard not to be excited about that.”
Two years ago, Bennington shared the benefit’s spotlight with Art Alexakis of Everclear. Last year, his other musical project, Dead by Sunrise, performed. For this year’s event, he assembled an all-star band with the Cult’s Billy Morrison, Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, Elias Andras of Dead by Sunrise and Robbie Merrill of Godsmack.
“I wanted to do something really fun,” Bennington says. “And I wanted to bring a bunch of guys who are really good at what they do and enthusiastic. I actually play a lot with Billy Morrison. We’re in a band called Camp Freddy together. It’s a bunch of rock stars who get together and hang out and have a good time playing covers of other people’s music. So that’s how I got to know Billy.”
He wanted Camp Freddy to play but a few of the guys couldn’t make it, so he put this one-time-only group together, holding onto the Camp Freddy premise of getting together to jam on covers.
“We’re gonna play songs by the Beatles and Dylan, the Who and David Bowie,” Bennington says. “So it’s gonna be a good time.”
Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery Program at CCMC, which provides care for children born with congenital heart defects or who develop heart conditions early in life. According to the hospital, approximately eight of every 1,000 newborns have congenital heart defects, which can range from mild to severe.
“For me,” Bennington says, “the best part of doing these benefits is when you’re at the event and you see all these people really excited about contributing and then watching the hospital grow. This place didn’t even exist four years ago. And now it’s the epicenter of care for all these children. Four years ago, they would’ve been sent to another state. They would have to be turned away because there wasn’t enough room in the one floor that was here before. So this has really become quite an amazing place for these kids.”

Last Night's Children's benefit

Here is a write up (with pictures) about last nights event at the children's hospital at AZ central:

Linkin Park's Chester Bennington headlined the second annual Stars of the Season, which drew a packed house of 520 to the beautiful Montelucia Resort & Spa on Saturday, Nov. 12. The evening was dedicated to raising funds for Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa. The proceeds will help expand and enhance services offered in the pediatric rehabilitation center.

Attendees were treated to a silent auction featuring a vast array of items including everything from sporting tickets to a day of golf with local music Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper. After a delicious dinner, a touching video presentation spotlighted three children who are patients at the Mesa facility. The stories of these brave children helped make the live auction a huge success and raise thousands of dollars.

The final live auction item was an autographed guitar from Linkin Park that would eventually sell for $10,000. The prize was in such high demand that lead singer Chester Bennington decided to auction off two additional Linkin Park guitars and raised $30,000.

After the auction, Bennington played an intimate acoustic set with Dead By Sunrise on the ballroom stage. The 40-minute, eight-song set put the focus on material by the singer's side band, including "Crawl Back In" and "Let Down." Dead By Sunrise also features Julien-K singer Ryan Schuck, who sang the Julien-K songs "I'll Try Not to Destroy You" and "Palm Spring Reset." They also played one Linkin Park track, "Messenger." When the set was over, Bennington took time to speak to the children in attendance and take photos with excited fans. It was wonderful to see Bennington's commitment to the community and the children. He truly is a class act.

2nd annual Stars of the Season soiree to benefit Cardon Children's Medical Center

Chester Bennington of Linkin Park will headline the second annual Stars of the Season soiree to benefit Cardon Children's Medical Center on Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Montelucia Resort & Spa in Paradise Valley. The signature fundraising event for Banner Health's only free-standing pediatric facility has a goal of raising $250,000 in support of Cardon's Pediatric Rehabilitation Center, which provides critically important rehabilitation services for children from newborn to 18 years. Bennington's wife, Talinda, volunteers there with Bruiser, their dog. Last year's event raised $170,000 for the medical center's Integrative Pediatric Pain Management Program. Tickets to this year's cocktails and dinner event are $250 per person; sponsorships range from $5,000-$50,000. To purchase tickets or inquire about Stars of the Season sponsorship opportunities, contact Natalie Hood, director of special events at Banner Health Foundation, at 602-747-GIVE or natalie.hood@bannerhealth.com.

-AZ Central