To commemorate Memorial Day, Bradford Regional Medical Center’s
non-profit fundraising department, the Bradford Hospital
Foundation, is reaching out to the community to raise awareness of
its memorial and named funds opportunities via the Internet.
Although the end of the year holidays are traditionally times
when non-profit organizations communicate with those interested in
their causes, BRMC and Bradford Hospital Foundation officials felt
that the Memorial Day holiday brings a special poignancy to
giving.
“It’s a time of the year when our donors, and our community,
recall special memories for those they’ve lost, and want to honor
those memories,” explained Foundation Director Francie Ambuske.
“It’s also a time to honor those in our lives that make each day
more memorable.”
Over the next few weeks, some 72,000 households throughout the
region will receive a specially-designed e-mail postcard with
information about the foundation’s memorial and named funds and
will be invited to make contributions. Local advertising will also
support the new initiative.
Individuals who click on the e-mail postcard can view the
Foundation’s funds or access the hospital’s Web site. The giving
feature offers the popular and Web-secure PayPal option and donors
can make their contribution in a variety of ways, including credit
cards. In addition, viewers have an opportunity to sign up for one
of the hospital site’s newest developments, e-health news.
The memorial and named funds list can be viewed at a special
domain name obtained for the Memorial Day campaign at
www.brmcgiving.com.
“We wanted a special designation to make it easier for the
public to find us on the World Wide Web,” said Kimberly Maben,
director of communications at BRMC. “We … are always seeking new
ways to reach our audience. It’s just the right time, the right
technology and the right reasons.”
The project’s graphic designer is Mary Kelly Chesebro, and the
hospital’s Web consulting firm is Protocol 80 Inc. of Bradford.
The foundation’s memorial and named funds provide a selection of
more than 50 funds in four categories – unrestricted funds,
restricted funds, honorary funds and endowed scholarship funds.
Apropos of the Memorial Day holiday, donors can choose to
contribute to one of the foundation’s newest funds in the
unrestricted category, the Fund in Honor of the Men and Women
Currently or Formerly Serving in the Armed Services.
“While all of the funds are noteworthy, this new fund strikes a
chord at this particular time, of course, as we send our thoughts
and prayers out to our military during this wartime, and especially
to their families,” Ambuske said, noting that several hospital
family members are among those with sons and other relatives in the
Middle East.
The Fund in Honor of the Men and Women Currently or Formerly
Serving in the Armed Services was established last year by Jeanie
Satterwhite of Bradford in memory of her parents, Herman Carl
Mosch, MD, and Eleanora Alicia Dunn Mosch, RN. Gifts to the
unrestricted funds support the general purposes of BRMC.
Contributions to the restricted funds support the specific
purpose designated by the fund. Contributions to the honorary funds
honor community leaders and support either general purposes of BRMC
or the specific purpose designated by the fund.
The endowed scholarship funds category currently has one
offering, the Doris Winship Newton, R.N. – Class of 1938 Bradford
Hospital School of Nursing Fund. Proceeds from this fund support
secondary nursing education scholarships for registered nurses
continuing with bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees or doctorates
in their nursing fields.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution by mail may also do so by
sending their check to the Foundation at 20 School St., Bradford,
Pa., 16701.
“In addition to making contributions of any size to these funds,
we invite the public or any group or organization to contact us
about establishing a fund of their own,” Ambuske notes, adding,
“It’s a great way to leave your legacy on the Bradford region.”
The funds are also available in a booklet recently published by
the Foundation. Anyone interested in receiving a copy by mail
foundation.
