To mark its 10-year anniversary, the leaders of the nonprofit St. Tammany Health Foundation – founded in 2003 as St. Tammany Hospital Foundation to support the healing work done at St. Tammany Parish Hospital – wanted to make an impact, but that’s not all they wanted.
They wanted to make a statement, too. They wanted a cause around which the community could be counted on to rally. They wanted to fund something meaningful for the hospital’s patients. And they wanted to raise the bar on philanthropy in St. Tammany Parish.
They found just such a cause with the establishment at the hospital of the region’s first dedicated pediatric emergency department.
And that brings us to today’s 54th installment in our 70-part series on the history of St. Tammany Health System and its flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital.
Installment No. 54: Taking root
Today’s artifact: A custom recognition installation in the St. Tammany Parish Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department depicting children relaxing and laying under a three-dimensional, wooden tree sculpture.
Why it is significant: Here’s something fun to do if you get a chance: The next time you see St. Tammany Health Foundation Executive Director Nicole Suhre, just mention the foundation’s 2013 Pediatric Capital Campaign – and watch her light up.
Even now, more than a decade after it broke every fundraising record in the foundation’s book to that point, it’s still a particular point of pride for Suhre and her foundation team.
It all started in 2013, when – as part of a larger expansion of the hospital’s Emergency Department – the foundation embarked on a campaign specifically to bolster its pediatric emergency services. Led by campaign co-chairs Greg Pellegrini and Allyson Sanderson, along with foundation then-Executive Director Charley Strickland, the foundation staff and its Board of Trustees spent the next three years marshalling community support for the project.
And, just like the communitywide effort to build the hospital in 1954, the community responded with enthusiasm.
By March 2016, the campaign had raised $3 million for the project, a record for a single campaign.
In a sign of gratitude for that outpouring of generosity, the foundation commissioned the tree sculpture, which – in addition to brightening the space – incorporates the names of those who contributed.
Those names printed on the tree’s acorns reflect gifts of $100,000 or more. Those on its leaves represent gifts of any level. And the names on the trunk – the Hattier and Heintz families – are in recognition of Gilbert J. Hattier III’s planned $1.1 million gift credited to the campaign.
“This is such a meaningful display for our foundation and our community,” Suhre said. “The tree is not only representative of life on the Northshore, with its design hinting toward the importance of nature, water and family to us, but it also represents the incredible generosity of the people who live here.”
Do you have a St. Tammany Parish Hospital story or item to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at CommDept@stph.org.
Next week – Installment No. 55: In the name of the father
Last week – Installment No. 53: A promise kept