Joe is the heart of the Developmental Care Committee for the NICU. This year he single-handedly initiated the idea for a ‘Kangaroo-A-Thon’ for the NICU. Kangaroo care is beneficial for both babies and parents and has been proven to help with vital signs, thermoregulation, bonding, mom’s milk supply, and much more. This was a week-long event starting on Mother’s Day and ending a week later on National Kangaroo Care Day. Joe had gift baskets donated for families to enter tickets into for each hour of kangaroo care completed. He also provided every NICU family with an invitation to kangaroo-a-thon, a benefits of kangarooing hand-out, tracking form, a children’s book called ‘Pouch’, and a stuffed kangaroo with a baby joey in its pouch. Joe also decorated the NICU with kangaroo banners, info, and badge buddies for staff, and displayed the gift baskets near the family lounge. Not only were the families competitive to receive tickets for the gift baskets, but the staff was also competitive because Joe got a couple of gift baskets to encourage staff participation and enthusiasm toward the event. Each time staff helped a family kangaroo, the staff member received an entry for a gift basket too. Joe not only encouraged RNs to assist with kangarooing, but also leadership, RTs, UCNAs, OT/PT, Speech, NNPs, and Neonatologists as well. Joe came in many days between his night shifts to ensure staff had assistance if needed, to ensure families and staff were educated and excited about kangarooing! Joe even brought cinnamon rolls as a morale boost and thank you for the staff’s dedication to this event. So many hours (hundreds) were completed on skin-to-skin in the NICU because of Joe'swork. It was beneficial to babies, parents, and staff too. What a great week!