Free Republic

On Tuesday, the International House of Pancakes will celebrate National Pancake Day by offering guests a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. With every short stack of pancakes served, diners will be invited to make a donation to designated charities, including Shriners Hospitals for Children.The IHOP restaurants that have chosen Shriners Hospitals for Children as the beneficiary of this event are primarily in Texas, with additional locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

Out of all of the financial woes stemming from the current economic slump, this one hits me the hardest: Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston will suspend operations to cope with a $3 billion shortfall in the Shriners International endowment fund, the organization’s president said Tuesday. In 2008, the Galveston hospital had a $33 million operating budget, according to information provided by the hospital. The hospital, which specializes in treating burned children, has been closed since Hurricane Ike struck Galveston Island Sept. 13. The hospital treats about 250 acutely burned children each year and keeps treating them until they are 18. In...

She is a national hero in her homeland, hailed for plucking her little sister from their family home as it was consumed by flames. Now, Nastya Ovchar, her body burned extensively during the rescue of her sister, lies in a room at Shriners Burns Hospital Boston, half a world away from her home in the Ukraine. If they made a movie about Nastya, they could well call it ''The President and the Little Girl," for it was the intervention of a national leader who had endured his own share of physical suffering that assured the 5-year- old could receive lifesaving...