April 17, 2004

Hospital Auxiliary, Jodi Swan up for awards
by Dan Hodgson, the Citizen

AMHERST - The Cumberland Health Care Auxiliary has been nominated for an Atlantic Region Philanthropy Award. The group, formerly know as the Highland View Regional Hospital Auxiliary will be up for a Outstanding Philanthropic Group award. The award ceremony will take place at the Lord Nelson hotel in Halifax on April 22.

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the auxiliary. Currently, the organization has 98 members.

Jodi Swan, managing director of the Cumberland Health Care Foundation, said she sees first hand how much work the auxiliary does and isn't one bit surprised to see the organization nominated. "Not only does the auxiliary deal with many other non-profit groups, but they involve the entire community," she said. "All the volunteer hours they put in just amaze me."

Swan is also up for an award herself - Rising Star. She said she is very honoured to be nominated, but added it's the auxiliary who really deserves the attention. All nominees will receive a certificate of recognition. The achievements of the auxiliary are many. Both the Highland Fling and the Light the Way campaign have been great success storied because of the auxiliary's involvement.

Other fundraising efforts of the group include the new gift and coffee shop. Profits from the store go towards purchasing new equipment for the hospital. Over the course of the past 25 years, the auxiliary has raised more than $575,000. They also recently completed their $200,000 pledge for the building of the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre.

Swan added the co-operation between the auxiliary and the foundation has been amazing. The latest project between the two is the Cumberland Health Care Art Gallery. Again, funds raised from this project will go towards the purchase of new equipment. The volunteers of the auxiliary log in 275 hours per week at the gift shop.