Kansas City Big Slick raises over $1M for Children’s Mercy, a drop from recent years

Big Slick, the annual celebrity-filled fundraiser for Children’s Mercy, raised just over $1 million this past weekend with its online-only Virtually Talented Show, organizers announced Tuesday.

That brings the total raised for the hospital’s Cancer Center to more than $13 million in 12 years. But this year’s total is less than the $2 million-plus the fundraiser has pulled in in each of the previous three years.

The fundraising continues. Big Slick is raffling off a custom 2021 “Big Slick Build” Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, loaded with a lifted body, off-road tires, custom audio system, bumpers, winch and some Big Slick elements, organizers said. Through October, supporters can enter for a minimum $10 donation at BigSlickJeep.com.

All funds raised from Big Slick 2021 will help build the immunotherapy program at Children’s Mercy hospital and its new Children’s Mercy Research Institute in Kansas City to improve treatments and find ways to reduce damaging side effects caused by conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Normally, Big Slick’s hometown hosts — Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Eric Stonestreet, Rob Riggle and David Koechner — invite dozens of celebrity guests to join them in a softball game at Kauffman Stadium, a bowling tournament at Pinstripes and an auction that grew so popular it was moved to the Sprint Center in 2019. But the pandemic forced the event online last year and again this year.

Saturday’s event featured celebrity “audition videos,” including Chiefs Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce juggling footballs, and stars such as Steve Carell, Jeff Daniels and Melissa Gilbert doing mock Sherlock Holmes death scenes. Woven in were musical performances by Blue Springs native David Cook, the Brothers Osborne, and Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts.

2020’s Big Slick at Home fundraiser brought in $2,072,420, a total surpassed only by the $2.5 million of 2019 and $2.1 million the year before.

Donations can still be made at bigslickkc.org. And Saturday’s show is still available on Youtube.com/BigSlickKC and Facebook.com/BigSlickKC.