Press Release
Barnabas Nassau
Jeff McDowell
Communications Mgr
[email protected]
www.BarnabasNassau.org
February 23, 2017 1:00 p.m.
Barnabas Center held its public annual meeting on Monday Feb. 20 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. For the more than 100 attendees, including donors, officials and volunteers this event was part 30th anniversary celebration, part tribute and part welcome to the agencies’ newest members to their Board of Directors. Barnabas seated three new members to its Board: Amy Bryan, Amanda Crawford and Pam Field.
One of the meeting highlights was the announcement of the Campaign for Sustainability, with a goal of raising $1.5 million in endowed funds to help maintain the non-profit’s many programs in perpetuity. Local resident and business owner, Drenda Vijuk, announced her gift, a $300,000 gift to the endowment fund with the possibility of an additional $100,000 as part of a “match” if Barnabas can raise $300,000.
“Barnabas has always impressed me as being well run, but also having compassion for those who are struggling. So, it was an easy choice for me to make this gift to Barnabas. We are all here only a short time, but an endowment lasts forever”, she explained.
While the meeting was mostly centered on business both old and new, there was an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of one of Barnabas’ longtime volunteers, local physician, Dr. Tom Washburn. Jim Mayo, a former Board of Director member, presented Washburn with a special plaque dedicating a room in the health center which reads,
“To Dr. Tom Washburn, whose extraordinary compassion, vision and tireless efforts created a healing space for uninsured individuals.”
Dr. Washburn was the leader behind Barnabas’ Samaritan Medical Clinic, which offered free medical services to lower income adults in Nassau County. From this clinic, Barnabas expanded into one of the major providers of comprehensive health services for uninsured adults in our area. Washburn offered his leadership from 2005 until his retirement in 2016.
“Dr. Tom Washburn was the hero we needed, in the truest sense of the word, when it came time to start the work which became the Samaritan Medical Clinic,” Mayo explained in his remarks.
Dr. Washburn spoke briefly and gave credit to a number of individuals including his wife Kathy, former Barnabas Executive Director, Susan Holden-Dodge, his colleagues at Baptist Medical-Nassau for their services and Dr. Eugenia Seidel, Director of the Nassau County Health Department.
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ANNUAL MEETING
Over the past 30 years, Barnabas has continued to expand into Nassau County’s premier provider of crisis assistance, medical and dental services, and much more. The Board of Directors work from a strategic plan developed in the past two years which serves as a roadmap to long-term financial sustainability, client-centered services and enhanced community outreach and communications. The campaign for Sustainability will ensure Barnabas will have sufficient resources to withstand economic variance, disasters, or a loss of key funding sources that might otherwise cause Barnabas to cut back or cease operations. To learn more about the Campaign for Sustainability, call Tania Yount at 261-7000 extension 107 or email to [email protected].
Barnabas is the comprehensive service center in Nassau County that helps our neighbors in crisis with a compassionate helping hand so they can become healthy, productive citizens, strengthening our entire community. Through our partnerships, we reach even more people and maximize resources. We address critical issues facing our community, such as hunger, affordable health care and prevention of homelessness.
The mission of Barnabas is to provide assistance to individuals and families in crisis throughout Nassau County. The agency’s vision is to be the primary nonprofit resource in Nassau County, providing assistance to connect individuals and families to services that will help them overcome crisis and achieve self-sufficiency.