Beebe Auxiliary raises $125K during challenging year
Members of the Beebe Auxiliary gathered outdoors recently to celebrate the past year of successful fundraising for Beebe Healthcare despite challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The auxiliary, which runs a craft group, a thrift shop beside the go-kart track at Midway, the gift shop at the Margaret H. Rollins Lewes Campus, and many other fundraising efforts, had all of these normal avenues closed or limited for the entire year.
Still, the group was able to raise and donate $125,000 to Beebe. Gathered at East Coast Garden Center near Millsboro, they presented the check and honorary memberships to Dr. David A. Tam, Beebe Healthcare president and CEO; and Dr. Bill Chasanov, infectious disease physician, and Beebe’s COVID-19 Medical Response director and clinical transformation director.
“It certainly has been a difficult year for our members, but we are really proud to donate this amount during turbulent times throughout our community,” said Wendell Alfred, Beebe Auxiliary president. “It was a pleasure to honor Drs. Tam and Chasanov, too, for their service to the community during the pandemic.”
The auxiliary’s donation will help fund the heart and vascular center, which represents the renovations completed to the areas where cardiology and vascular tests are done at the Margaret H. Rollins Lewes Campus.
“It’s such an asset for Beebe Healthcare to have a thriving auxiliary to support us,” said Tam. “I look forward to many years of partnering with the auxiliary as they celebrate 85 years of service to our community.”
Over the years, Beebe Auxiliary has raised millions in funds for various Beebe needs, including the Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing, the medical center chapel, the Georgetown Health Campus, two hyperbaric chambers at Beebe Wound Healing, special wheelchairs for patients visiting the medical center and Tunnell Cancer Center, new navigational bronchoscopy equipment and more.
“All avenues of fundraising are so important for Beebe,” said Tom Protack, Beebe Medical Foundation president. “The foundation is so happy to have partners like the auxiliary. The millions they have donated over the years has been a tremendous support to Beebe’s mission.”
