Every August, RE/MAX agents across the United States and Canada pause their work to celebrate something bigger than real estate — the children who are fighting for their lives in hospitals, and the communities that show up for them.
It’s called the Month of Miracles, and if you’ve ever worked with me to buy or sell a home, you’ve been a part of it.
What Is RE/MAX Month of Miracles?
Month of Miracles is RE/MAX’s annual August campaign to celebrate and amplify its year-round partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. During August, RE/MAX agents across North America host fundraising events, increase their per-transaction donations, visit local children’s hospitals, and shine a spotlight on the kids and families those hospitals serve.
The giving doesn’t stop in August — it just gets louder. Since 1992, RE/MAX affiliates in the U.S. and Canada have donated more than $226 million to CMN Hospitals. In 2021 alone, that number hit a record $11.4 million in a single year.
How It Works: The Miracle Home Program
At the heart of the RE/MAX giving model is the Miracle Home Program. Here’s how it works:
When I list your home as a Miracle Home — or close a transaction on your behalf — I make a donation to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in your name. You receive an Honor Card letting you know a gift was made in your honor. And every single dollar stays local.
100% of donations made by Iowa RE/MAX agents go directly to the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City.
Not to a national fund. Not split across multiple hospitals. Straight to the one children’s hospital that serves Iowa kids.
That’s the part I want every client to understand. When you work with me, part of every transaction goes to a child in Iowa who needs it.
The Hospital Behind the Mission
The University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital is not just any hospital. It is Iowa’s only comprehensive children’s hospital — the only facility in the state offering the full spectrum of pediatric specialty care from birth through young adulthood.
Founded in 1919, the current state-of-the-art building opened in February 2017 after a $360 million construction project — built entirely without tax dollars. The facility sits directly across from Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, a placement that would go on to create one of the most moving traditions in all of American sports.
What makes this hospital remarkable:
- Ranked #1 in Iowa by U.S. News & World Report — every year since rankings began in 2007, 19 consecutive years
- Ranked #12 in the Midwest
- Serves more than 100,000 patients every year
- Iowa’s only Level 1 ACS-verified Pediatric Trauma Center
- Iowa’s only Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit — with survival rates for extremely premature babies that exceed most U.S. hospitals
- Iowa’s only pediatric bone marrow transplant program and pediatric organ transplants
- Home of the revolutionary Ponseti Method for treating clubfoot, now the world standard
For families across Southeast Iowa — Burlington, West Burlington, Danville, Wapello, Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant — this is the hospital you turn to when your child’s life depends on it. There is no backup option. This is it.
The Wave: When 70,000 People Stop and Look Up
If you’ve followed Iowa Hawkeyes football, you know The Wave. If you haven’t seen it, you need to.
At the end of the first quarter of every home game at Kinnick Stadium, something remarkable happens. The public address announcer invites the crowd to turn toward the children’s hospital, and up to 70,000 fans — along with both teams’ players and coaches, officials, and stadium staff — stop, turn, and wave to the pediatric patients watching from the 12th floor.
The children and families inside, some of them fighting the hardest battles of their lives, wave back.
The tradition started on September 2, 2017, from an idea a fan named Krista Young posted on a Facebook page for Iowa fans. Her words were simple: “I think with the new U of I hospital addition open, Kinnick should hold a ‘wave to the kids’ minute during every game. Can you imagine how neat it would be to have all those fans, players and coaching staff looking up at you sending a little extra inspiration?”
The university said yes. The crowd said yes. And it’s been happening ever since — winning the Disney Sports Spirit Award, the Musial Award, and recognition as one of college football’s greatest traditions.
Dr. David Dickens, a pediatric oncologist at the hospital, put it this way: “Imagine having a really tough day and 70,000 people stop what they are doing to acknowledge that they see you.”
Since 2017, an estimated 3.4 million people have participated in The Wave across more than 50 home games. The Hawkeye Wave isn’t just a football tradition. It is a community telling Iowa’s most vulnerable kids: we see you, and we’re with you.
That’s the same spirit behind RE/MAX Month of Miracles.
A Thank You to My Clients
I want to be direct about something: I cannot make these donations without you.
Every home I list, every buyer I help, every closing I get to the table — that’s what funds the contribution I make to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. You choose to work with a RE/MAX agent, and a child in Iowa benefits. It’s that simple.
To every client who has trusted me with one of the biggest transactions of their life — thank you. You may not have known it at the time, but you helped make a difference for a kid who needed it.
We wave. They heal. Miracles happen.
How You Can Help This August
The best way to support the hospital is simply to keep doing what you’re doing — and to share this story with people who don’t know about it yet.
If you or someone you know is thinking about buying or selling a home in Southeast Iowa, I would love to earn that business. Not just because I know this market inside and out, but because every transaction is a chance to give back to a hospital that Iowa families count on when everything else is on the line.
Learn more:
- University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital
- Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals — Iowa
- RE/MAX Miracle Home Program
Contact me to talk real estate →
Andy Crowner is a licensed RE/MAX Broker Associate with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in West Burlington, Iowa. He serves Burlington, West Burlington, Danville, Wapello, Mediapolis, Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant, and surrounding Southeast Iowa communities. Part of the proceeds from every transaction he closes benefits the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital through the RE/MAX Miracle Home Program.