Honoring Philanthropy, Service, Leadership on the MCV Campus

This October, we honored and thanked one of VCU Health’s longest-serving and most generous donors — the MCV Hospitals Auxiliary.

For more than 46 years, this group of volunteers, which now includes about 250 individuals, has supported MCV Campus patients, visitors and staff through service and fundraising. To date, the auxiliary has raised and distributed more than $6.2 million to advance patient programs, build facilities and train or support employees across VCU Health.

Some of the programs that have benefited from the auxiliary’s generosity over the years include camps for children with hearing loss or diabetes, a tacky light tour for bone marrow transplant patients and their families, boot camps for expectant fathers, Dogs on Call (hospital therapy dogs), injury and violence prevention initiatives, and the Rainbow Society, which provides grants to employees who are undergoing hardships.

“You can see the extraordinary benefit the auxiliary has given us by being one of our major donors,” said Marsha Rappley, M.D., vice president for health sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System. “But they’re also the ones who bring a warmth to the experience that people have when they’re sick and badly in need of help. There are not only doctors and nurses helping our patients, there is a whole community of support represented in the auxiliary.”

In appreciation of that transformational support, MCV Foundation president Margaret Ann Bollmeier presented a special award for volunteer leadership to the auxiliary at its board meeting on Oct. 5.

“We’re very pleased to be here today to give special recognition to the MCV Hospitals Auxiliary,” Margaret Ann said. “About six months ago, the auxiliary was nominated for one of the four awards that our foundation gives every year. The nomination was incredible, and we decided to create a special award to recognize not only the auxiliary’s fundraising excellence, but also the volunteer leadership that the group has brought to the MCV Campus.”

“The special award was created to recognize the hundreds of volunteers who are part of MCV Hospitals Auxiliary,” she said later. “It was given for exemplary leadership, philanthropy and dedicated service to patients and their families.”

In addition to board members from both the foundation and auxiliary, those in attendance on Oct. 5 included VCU Health leadership, auxiliary volunteers and 101-year-old Hester Abbott, who is one of the auxiliary’s founding members.

“This award is a wonderful gift to the auxiliary,” Mrs. Abbott said. “We started so slowly, and to see this growth and all the things the auxiliary has done has been wonderful. It makes me feel proud, and I just wish I could still volunteer.”

When Hester helped found the auxiliary, she and the other volunteers worked out of a kitchen and held bake sales. Today, the auxiliary operates the Three Bears Gift Shop in the VCU Medical Center and River City Treasures, the gift shop in Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s Children’s Pavilion. The auxiliary also hosts special events such as Dancing with the Richmond Stars, and all of the funds raised by the auxiliary support VCU Health.

The auxiliary’s most notable ongoing philanthropic support has come through its grant program, which has contributed more than $3 million since its inception. In the 2017 grant cycle alone, more than $327,000 went to support 69 projects focused on the implementation of novel programs that benefit patients, their families and VCU Health staff.

In addition to these targeted grants, the auxiliary has made major gifts, which include a $500,000 contribution to the VCU Health Mother-Infant Unit. More recently, the auxiliary raised $192,000 for the Virginia Treatment Center for Children. Portions of that funding went to create a specialized autism assessment clinic and to the Children's Mental Health Resource Center, which is where parents receive referrals, information and support for their child's mental health needs.

Another notable auxiliary accomplishment is the founding of the Hospital Hospitality House. Now known as The Doorways, that organization provides housing, meals and other services to patients and families who need to be close to the hospital.

The auxiliary also helped establish the Arthur Ashe Books for Kids program, which provides an age-appropriate book for each child who passes through the lobby of the Children’s Pavilion. Auxiliary members also provided leadership in planning the Community Health Education Center, which provides free medical education for patients, families, visitors and staff at the VCU Medical Center.

“This all literally started at a kitchen table with two ladies talking about what they could do and how they could help the health system,” said Ginny Little, the current MCV Hospitals Auxiliary president. “You think about one person being able to make a difference, and it’s true. It starts with somebody having a thought or an idea and inspiring others to get involved.”

“You don’t know what you can do until you try,” Mrs. Abbott added. “And that’s what this auxiliary has done.”

All of the proceeds from the two gift shops and the auxiliary’s fundraising events support VCU Health. To learn more about the auxiliary’s work, click here, or to directly support the auxiliary’s efforts, visit their gift shops on the MCV Campus.

The auxiliary is a 100 percent volunteer organization. To learn more about how you can contribute through volunteering at VCU Health, click here.

Other ways to support VCU Health include planned giving, honoring loved ones through tributes and memorials, and endowing scholarships or professorships. To learn more about these opportunities, visit our giving page.