The Marion General Hospital Auxiliary is asking for help in decorating its Christmas tree again this year to remember or honor a loved one.
Doris Broom, Hospital Auxiliary president, said the Christmas tree project raises $5 for each of the “Ornaments of Love” that are placed on the tree.
“Our biggest fundraiser is the Christmas tree,” she said while in the hospital’s gift shop this week. “We made a lot of money off of our candies and stuff in here, but not as much as we make on the Christmas tree. We put a red ornament on the tree in memory of someone. And the silver ornaments are in honor of. When you get the tree out there with ornaments all over it, it is really pretty.”
Broom encouraged visitors to view the list of dedications at the reception desk.
She also challenged local residents to honor their parents with “Ornaments of Love.”
“Hopefully, everyone will give $5 in honor of their parents for those folks like me who were blessed with good parents,” she said. “I want to challenge them. We’re still keeping it at $5. It’s been that way since the beginning.
The funds are also important to the hospital, Broom said.
“Our moneymaking projects go to help with much needed equipment and some decorations,” she said. “Those were non-budgeted items, and we usually pay for those kinds of things.”
Auxiliary member Carol May was manning the group’s gift shop on Monday and spoke about the role of the group.
“We run the gift shop,” she said. “But we do so much more. We had a booth at the Heritage Festival and enjoyed getting out meeting people. We also have other projects that benefit the hospital. The proceeds from the gift shop go to the hospital. We have a project each year. We’ve purchased many items for the hospital over the years from decorations to equipment.”
May added that the “Ornaments of Love” project will continue through the end of December.
Broom said anyone who wants to participate can pick up a form in the hospital’s gift shop or at the front desk.
Broom said the Hospital Auxiliary had a difficult time raising funds for the medical facility until the Gift Shop was built in the current location.
“Before the gift shop, the only way we had of making money was fundraisers like flea market booths and bake sales,” she said. “Helen Rochinski, who is an honorary member of the Hospital Auxiliary, came up with the idea in the mid-1990s of putting the ornaments on the Christmas tree for $5 for those in memory of or in honor of. The auxiliary raised almost $1,000 last year from the Christmas tree project.”
Broom added that the Hospital Auxiliary started out with a simple beginning.
“The Auxiliary actually began in 1968 by a group of women from First Baptist Church and they called themselves ‘The Sunshine Girls,’” she said. “They would come to the cafeteria in the old hospital, and they would do devotionals and those patients that could come down would come down. After they moved into this hospital and we got a social director, then they formed a hospital auxiliary.”
Broom said the Hospital Auxiliary always welcomes new volunteers.
“We have about 30 volunteers in all,” she concluded. “We are always glad to have some new members.”
Anyone interested in joining the Hospital Auxiliary can contact Broom at (601) 736-5662 or (601) 441-5952.
Pictured Above: Pictured from left with this year’s tree at Marion General Hospital are Hospital Auxiliary members, James and Carol May, Doris Broom and Doyce Ross. | Photo by Mark Rogers
