Latest News

St. Francis Auxiliary 'hometown heroes'

02/03/2011

 By Stacy Temple

3 February 2011

The News-Star

The men and women of the St. Francis Auxiliary are normally on the giving end of things, but on Wednesday the group received an award for its dedication and volunteerism.

U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, presented the auxiliary with the February 2011 Hometown Heroes Award at a reception Wednesday afternoon at St. Francis Medical Center.

Alexander began the Hometown Heroes Program to honor local individuals and groups whose work and volunteer efforts benefit Louisiana's 5th District.

Ruth Beavers, president of the auxiliary, said the group was honored to be recognized by the congressman.

"It is a great honor and we are proud to be recognized," Beavers said. "The best thing about our job is the reward we get out of helping people and being able to give back to the community."

The St. Francis Auxiliary was organized in 1927 to serve the hospital and to assist with the care of the sick and those visiting the hospital. The volunteers work in different capacities such as at the information desk, inside the waiting rooms and by running the gift shop.

The auxiliary also hosts fundraisers, and all proceeds are donated back to the hospital. Since 1995, the St. Francis Auxiliary has donated $935,500 to St. Francis for medical equipment, sleep chairs for patient rooms and remodeling the waiting areas.

The group has been making Christmas stockings every year for more than five decades for the babies born in December, and they purchase special pillows for cardiac patients.

Alexander presented the group with a plaque that will be hung in the hospital. Alexander said St. Francis is a place particularly close to his heart because his daughter was born there more than four decades ago and because he helped lay the bricks underneath a statue located in Anna Gray Noe Park.

"I have been caring about the state of our health care for 20 years," Alexander said. "I represent one of the poorest and unhealthiest districts in the nation, so it is important to me. After seeing these volunteers work, I realized what these men and women do is touching to so many people. We wanted to recognize them for that."

Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo was at the reception and officially proclaimed Wednesday as St. Francis Auxiliary Day. He called the volunteers the "unsung heroes" of the hospital and thanked them for the many contributions the organization has made to the hospital and the community throughout the years.

St. Francis has 120 volunteers who work more than 16,000 hours a year. In May 2010, Alexander named auxiliary member Angie Bruscato as a Hometown Hero. Bruscato has volunteered at the hospital almost 36 years. She and two others were honored by President Barack Obama that same year for volunteerism.