No one wants to see a child lying in a hospital bed.

The Chilton County Farmers Federation did its part to make sure families have help when this unfortunate circumstance becomes a reality by donating $1,500 to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.

Children’s of Alabama is the choice for many Chilton County residents and is the third-largest pediatric hospital in the U.S. according to a press release.

“It’s a helpless feeling when you have a sick child, especially when the illness requires hospitalization many miles from home,” Chilton County Farmers Federation president Wendell Kelley said.

In 2016 alone, Children’s of Alabama logged 4,391 medical visits by pediatric patients from Chilton County. Last year’s total was 676,484 patient visits to the hospital’s clinics with 15,784 patient admissions.

The fundraising effort was part of the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Commodity Producers Conference, which is taking place in Birmingham Aug. 3-5.

Leading up to the event, county federations from throughout the state are encouraged to make donations with additional contributions collected during the conference.

“We want the families at Children’s of Alabama to know they are not alone,” Kelley said. “We care about what they are going through and want to help make sure the hospital is always able to provide exemplary care for children from all 67 counties in Alabama.”

Children’s of Alabama is the state’s only freestanding pediatric hospital. It includes the pediatric teaching hospital for the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The teaching facility is the only pediatric kidney dialysis program in the state, one of the Southeast’s largest burn units and one of only a select pediatric rheumatology programs in the nation.