Why I Give
Honoring Our Mother, Securing The Future It was the easiest pitch that I have ever made. As a former public relations agency owner, I have made hundreds of them. Attending the first Blessing of the Hands Ceremony for nurses graduating from NCU’s RN to BSN program, I walked back to my office on campus to call my brother and sister. It was time for us to honor our mother. She was a hard working, tough, no-nonsense registered nurse who worked in psychiatric and geriatric nursing until she was almost 80. I knew what I wanted. The three of us were going to make it happen.
our beds made with hospital corners. Even if we weren’t, she was in bed early. We were all out of bed early. If I made a lot of noise after 9 pm on a work night, my mom was quick to remind me that people were depending on her to be at her best in the morning. She needed sleep – end of discussion. She believed nurses provide the consistent, compassionate care required for people to heal and to manage their physical and mental health. Nurses play a critical role in the healing continuum.
Our mom loved being a nurse. By choice she continued working long after she could have hung up her uniform. Her friends were nurses. She trained nurses. She could talk about nursing for hours. Three days a week and every other weekend, she was proud to wear her white uniform, nursing cap, and nursing school pin. It was a reminder and source of professional pride of the sacrifice required for her and my grandparents to rise out of poverty and into lives of giving.
Meeting Dr. Linda Veltri, NCU’s director of nursing and an associate professor, talking with the graduating students and their families, and watching the Blessing of The Hands was the motivation for me to ask my brother and sister to fund the Helen Stafford Walsh, RN Memorial Nursing Scholarship. Through our individual contributions, monthly contributions through NCU’s Torchbearer’s Society, and a matching gift from my brother in-law’s employer, Johnson Controls, we funded our mom’s scholarship.
Our family lived the regiment that comes with our mom being a nurse from her era. Everything had a place, and everything was in its place. Our bedrooms were kept to hospital standards, including
My mom never set foot on the NCU campus, but she would have been “all in” about supporting the RNs working to call this Christian university their alma mater. She would have been proud of her first
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Spring 2019 | The Beacon
scholarship recipient Leadi Aminou ’18, MSN ’19, a nurse with PeaceHealth who values faith, compassion, hard work and takes good care of his family—just like she and my dad did for us. NCU provides many easy opportunities to make scholarships possible, like the one we did to honor our mom. Join me, and my siblings, in considering the ways you can support NCU students. Please contact Camille Ogden, NCU’s Director of Annual Giving, to learn more about how you can help NCU students put wisdom, faith and service into action to make the world a better place, whether it is across town or across the world, cogden@nwcu. edu or 541-694-7225.
Pat Walsh Editor, The Beacon Bulletin
