Just in time for National Volunteer Week (April 21-27, 2024) St. Tammany Health System on Wednesday celebrated the members of the St. Tammany Hospital Guild – and the decades of service they have provided to the health system – at its 42nd annual Volunteer Awards Banquet.
With more than 15,000 people hours donated by guild members in 2023 alone, gratitude was the day’s prevailing emotion.
“It’s hard to put into words just how thankful we are for the work and the generosity of our guild members,” health system Volunteer Services Manager Shirley Primes said. “Every day and throughout every part of the health system, they donate the most precious gift – their time – and we as a health system and as a community are better off for it.”
In addition to food, fellowship and door prizes, the event was highlighted by a keynote speech from New Orleans broadcaster LBJ of WGNO-TV as well as a rousing version of the TV game show “Deal or No Deal,” during which guild members competed for an array of prizes.
The biggest prize of the day, however, came in the form of the guild’s annual gift to St. Tammany Hospital Foundation, this year in the amount of $45,000.
That pushed the guild’s cumulative giving past the half-million-dollar mark since the foundation’s inception in 2003.
Recognition was also given to guild members marking service milestones this year – notably including Marie Tusa, a guild member for 30 years.
See below for others singled out Wednesday, and scroll down further for more photos from the event.
Learn more about the guild, and its seven-decade history, at StTammany.health/Volunteer.
Volunteers with the most hours of service in 2023
Daniel Brady
David Brumfield
Yvonne Cleland
Ken Kimberly
Jane Landry
600 to 699 hours
Daniel Brady
Ken Kimberly
400 to 499 hours
Barbara Brumfield
David Brumfield
Yvonne Cleland
Charles LaRose
Jane Landry
300 to 399 hours
Michele Acker
Tiny Calder
Lewis Dennis
Theresa Ellzey
Jamey Hill
Nancy Wyatt
200 to 299 hours
Charles Beasley
MaryAnn Brockhaus
Joan Coffenberg
Margaret Dennis
Ken Lane
Michele Pennington
Stephen Restrepo
John Sammons
Richard Senette
Charlotte Tafaro
Terr Thibodeaux
Angela Womack
100 to 199 hours
Anna Bienvenu
Patrick Brady
Steven Cody
Dorothy Frederick
Jan Gagnon
Cynthia Glancy
Judy LaCour
Marsha Licali
Christy Moss
Rich O’Regan
Ellie Reiter
Maggie Roger
Toby Schaffer
Marion Shally
Mary Rose Shaw
Anne Tilton
Keith Trosclair
50 to 99 hours
Michael Abrams
Sister Kateri Battaglia
Peggy Garver
Patricia Leblanc
Austin McElroy
Monique Martin
Markwell Nager
Bernadette Rainosek
Gary Rainosek
Patrick Stumpf
Amy Trosclair
Mari Tusa
Robin Williams
St. Tammany Hospice
Susan Austin
Charlotte Binnings
Judie Boudin
MaryAnn Brannan
Diane Combs
Jennie Fowler
Marisol Garcia
Jane Kuebel
Joyce McHenry
Karen Place
Madelyn Saunders
Cathy Schultz
Ruth Sticker
Nancy Wyatt
Cancer Center
Linnae Allotto
Michelle Berry
Carol Burnell
Susan Cloninger
Mary Lorna Danielsen
Rob “Sherlock” Foley
Diane Olsen
Steven Saux
J.P. Warner
Barb Whitman
Celebrating milestones in hours of service
David Brumfield, 6,000 hours
MaryAnn Brockhaus, 5,000 hours
Yvonne Cleland, 5,000 hours
Theresa Ellzey, 2,000 hours
John Sammons, 2,000 hours
Nancy Wyatt, 2,000 hours
Michele Acker, 1,000 hours
Jamey Hill, 1,000 hours
Patricia Leblanc, 1,000 hours
Steve Restrepo, 1,000 hours
Celebrating milestones in years of service
Marie Tusa, 30 years
MaryAnn Brannan, 20 years
Ken Kimberly, 10 years
Charles LaRose, 10 years
Patricia Leblanc, 10 years
Tiny Calder, 5 years
Diane Combs, 5 years
Austin McElroy, 5 years