Kathleen Hicks

Kathleen Hicks, Auxiliary President

"A center that actually serves up to 3,000 patients a month deserves more volunteers," says Auxiliary president Kathleen Hicks.

"This past December," said auxiliary President Kathleen Hicks, "we gave the fourth of five $200,000 installments of our million-dollar pledge to endow the Pavilions Project.We'll make our final installment later this year."

This record of giving doesn't even include the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised and allocated toward scholarships, largely to the Maurine Church Coburn School of Nursing, a program subsidized by the hospital, at Monterey Peninsula College.

"In 2005," said Hicks, "we gave $79,000 in scholarships to various students, most of whom attend the Maurine Church Coburn School of Nursing.This year, we gave an unprecedented $25,000 directly to the school to help hire faculty, which will enable eight more nursing students to enroll."

Despite the magnitude and importance of the auxiliary's financial contributions, it is neither their most visible nor their most arduous form of charitable giving.

"We contribute 80,000 hours of service every year," said Hicks, "which equals the investment of almost 50 full-time employees.Among more than 310 adults, 100 junior or high school volunteers and 10 collegiate volunteers, we staff the hospital with 50 volunteers during the week, and more provide services on the weekends.Administration tells us they couldn't do it without us."

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the auxiliary during the next few years is to keep pace with the growth of the hospital by augmenting its membership and staffing the hospital with more volunteers.

"The Forest Pavilion will put 120 additional beds into service by late summer or early fall," said Hicks.
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"I think volunteering at the hospital is a good way to interact with the community," said Hicks.

"Jehan was a real stalwart in our volunteer organization," said Kathleen Hicks, president of the Auxiliary at Community Hospital.

(Front row) Laurie Benjamin; Ian Arnof; Beverly L. Hamilton, chairperson; H. James Griggs; Kathleen Hicks, Communtiy Hospital Auxiliary president.