Every year for the past nine years, Melvin Sheppard visits the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with a special mission. Sheppard, now 16, was born nine weeks premature at Cooper in 1997 weighing only 2.9 pounds. As a token of thanks and gratitude for the medical care he received as a premature infant, the Moorestown, NJ teenager conducts a year-long penny collection and donates the proceeds to the hospital. This year, Melvin collected more than $250 in pennies to help other babies and families. Since he began his Pennies for Preemies campaign, Melvin has collected and donated more than $2,000 as a way of giving back and helping other premature babies get a good start in life.
Melvin Sheppard and his parents made their ninth annual visit to Cooper University Hospital on November 6, 2013, to donate the proceeds of his annual penny collection and visit with staff. Pictured (left to right): Joanne Fox, RN, Clinical Director, NICU; Gary E. Stahl, MD, Head, Division of Neonatology; Melvin Sheppard and his parents Denise and Melvin Sheppard Sr.; and Michael H.Goodman, MD, Chair and Chief, Department of Pediatrics.