Episode 7: Meet Maureen Cameron Director of Development
“Episode 7 – Meet Maureen Cameron Director of Development” Released: 2022. Track 7. Genre: podcast.
Transcription
Sue Lanza:
Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of House Guest, the podcast about all things related to The House of the Good Shepherd, a retirement community in Hackettstown, New Jersey. I’m Sue Lana, the CEO, and I’m joined today by my co-host, the Reverend [Shawn Carty], who is our Chaplain. Please enjoy. Hey, Shawn.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Hello, Sue.
Sue Lanza:
How are you today?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I’m doing well. We have a guest today.
Sue Lanza:
Do we? I see somebody in the room.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
It’s very exciting. After six episodes, we finally let somebody else in the room.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah. Was that what you were doing? I bet it was.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, I don’t know. It was a shared effort, but we get to meet somebody from our staff here at The House of the Good Shepherd-
Sue Lanza:
Wonderful.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Maureen Cameron, who’s our Director of Development.
Sue Lanza:
That’s great. Welcome, Maureen.
Maureen Cameron:
Thank you. It’s delightful to be here with both of you.
Sue Lanza:
This is episode seven, for those of us who are counting. And this is House Guest. Shawn Carty and I, Sue Lanza, have been doing this for a while and we’re so excited to have our first guest here. So we want to hear all about what it’s like to be a director of development.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
What is the development?
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, what is that?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Can you give us a quick definition of what development is?
Maureen Cameron:
Development is essentially fundraising, but it’s also friend-raising. It’s about getting people involved, but ultimately to raise money for a nonprofit organization.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Yeah, that makes sense. And then the word philanthropy, I see that shared with folks. I actually looked up what that word means.
Sue Lanza:
You did?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I did.
Sue Lanza:
Get out of here. Look at you, doing research ahead.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Let me try. Philanthropy, so fila means love, like the city of brotherly love is Philadelphia.
Sue Lanza:
I love that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And anthropy or anthros means humans. So to love humans, to love people, which is what philanthropy is about. So folks who have money share that out of a love for other people, which in my world is called loving your neighbor, which I think is a very wonderful and good thing.
Maureen Cameron:
That’s quite lovely.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Is that helpful?
Maureen Cameron:
Very, very helpful. So core to work and development is philanthropy. And creating a culture of philanthropy within organizations to encourage people to want to give back not only their money, but we like to say their time, their talent, and their treasure. Some other organizations, they call it work, wealth, wisdom.
Sue Lanza:
So can you tell me again what those three things are, Maureen?
Maureen Cameron:
Wisdom, work, and wealth.
Sue Lanza:
Nice.
Maureen Cameron:
And time, talent, and treasure.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Love that.
Sue Lanza:
So what about your background? Tell us a little bit about how you got into this whole nonprofit situation?
Maureen Cameron:
So in New Jersey, my experience in the nonprofit sector began at a regional Diocese in high school, DePaul Catholic. It’s located in Wayne. A wonderful experience for me, particularly because it was spiritual. I found that very uplifting. It was a wonderful environment. Great people to work with. We raised money largely through events and cultivating relationships with our alumni, and we were also in a capital campaign. A capital campaign is when you’re raising money for specific capital needs that the nonprofit doesn’t have in its operating budget. So they have to raise money.
In DePaul’s case, we renovated a former convent into new offices and some music rooms. And we upgraded the football field to a turf field and some other improvements to the main building of the campus.
Sue Lanza:
So for a small nonprofit, that must have been quite a big accomplishment to get those things done.
Maureen Cameron:
It was. It was. And a capital campaign takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of planning. It takes a team of committed people that are willing to put in the time to raise the funds. It’s very structured. Actually, a large component of a capital campaign is what they call the quiet phase where people don’t even know that the organization is in a campaign. That’s when they’re asking for the really big gifts.
Sue Lanza:
Aha. Okay.
Maureen Cameron:
Once they secure some very large gifts to get them going, then they emerge into the public phase where they announce the gifts that have already been committed and they start going down the line for smaller level gifts. But when you do those in large quantities, it can really pay off in the long run.
Sue Lanza:
Sure, because it gets everybody motivated. And do you also figure out ahead of time, a rough dollar amount that you’re shooting for and then you work towards that?
Maureen Cameron:
Yes. So typically, say you want to raise $5 million, then you may decide that you’re going to hope that you might get four people that are going to kick in. They’ll come up with the two million. And then you’ll get another 10 people that will come up with one million. And then the last two million, maybe is in the public phase where you’re getting gifts from a thousand to 500 to $25. And it’s very targeted in terms of how you’re going to get to that end goal of the $5 million.
Sue Lanza:
That makes sense. That really explains it.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, it’s the old 80/20 rule where you’ve got 20% of the folks giving 80% of the funds. I’ve seen this many times in churches where-
Maureen Cameron:
You know this so well, Shawn.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, I’ve had to replace a few roofs in churches that I’ve served in, things like that. Yeah, there are things that you can do to make those campaigns successful. If you don’t have your organization together, it doesn’t usually work and so you learn some of those things. People like to give to successful things.
Maureen Cameron:
They do. They want to invest in success and they want to invest in the future.
Sue Lanza:
So I understand the Girl Scouts crossed your path at one point. I was a leader and a Girl Scout myself, my daughter was, so I’m curious about that.
Maureen Cameron:
I spent nearly six years at the Girl Scouts. I was Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, and I really learned a lot about philanthropy and the culture of fundraising in New Jersey. I was passionate about the work because it really has had a tremendous impact on girls for over a hundred years. So I raised money to expand programs, particularly for the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, which is what they call the overall program, as well as STEM and STEAM initiative, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. It was really a tremendous experience for me and I learned a lot there.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I’m curious, Maureen, you mentioned that having worked with DePaul, that it was a spiritual community and I of course am very much in favor of spiritual communities, no big surprise.
Sue Lanza:
What?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I’m a chaplain. So I’m curious, what was it about The House of the Good Shepherd that drew you to be here in this particular place and do the work you’re doing here?
Maureen Cameron:
DePaul had a profound impact on me. And so when I saw this position advertised, that was my first instinct, that it would offer a similar environment. But another position that I held before coming to The House of the Good Shepherd, was a small nonprofit based in Hackensack, called Bergen Volunteers. We managed several programs that helped struggling populations, but in particular, we had several programs that helped seniors, aging seniors. I discovered that I do have a passion for helping seniors. In other cultures, seniors are revered. They are treated much more positively than I feel in our culture. I think we can improve. Working to raise money to help seniors in their final years was really appealing to me. And I came out here, met Sue and a few other people, and obviously, the geography is just spectacular. To come to work along the Musconetcong River is just… I feel like it’s a gift.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I’m going to bring up one of my favorite words that Sue I’ve talked about, inmates.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, no.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
We found this word in some of the historical papers. It was the word that was used to describe people who were part of The House of the Good Shepherd in its early years. It wasn’t used in the way we think of the word. We have talked on this podcast before about how we don’t necessarily live in a culture that does revere our seniors.
Sue Lanza:
True.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
It sees seniors and the challenges that they may face and the needs they have as obstacles or problems, as opposed to what I see is really an opportunity to treasure folks who have great wisdom and life experience. I think that’s partly why we started out with some history with this podcast was that this place has those roots and each person who comes here has those stories to share.
Maureen Cameron:
Well said. And what’s also interesting about our culture, and a lot of this goes back to the 19th century, our focus on liberty and individualism actually had a tremendous impact on the nonprofit community overall in our country, because in many areas of the world, helping people is the work of the Church or the State. And one thing I learned when I worked for the Girl Scouts, which is an international organization, is that there’s not a clean translation for the word volunteer. Volunteerism is also uniquely American. That is very intrinsic to work in philanthropy and in development and in raising money. And Shawn, you touched upon this in one of the first podcasts, that a lot of faith-based organizations, they started hospitals and universities and care for the indigent, like The House of the Good Shepherd, back in the 1880s. And we are uniquely very advanced in nonprofit work as opposed to other cultures around the world. So that’s definitely a win for us.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, as I understand it, the term nonprofit, doesn’t exist in other cultures too. And it certainly in the context of our being in the United States, doesn’t have the tax advantages and some of those things. We value it. Having come from the nonprofit world myself, I joke about being part of the world’s oldest nonprofit going on 2000 years, the Church. There’s a sense of being involved in the work for a higher good than simply making a profit. Philanthropy, back to that word of loving humans around us, our neighbors.
Maureen Cameron:
Yes. And the house exists as a nonprofit to help seniors. And we do have some tax benefits to that, but it’s very important that we work to execute our mission, which is to enhance the services and the lives of our residents right here on campus.
Sue Lanza:
I know that’s one of the things that drew you when you researched a little bit about us, the whole mission statement and our value and vision statements were connecting with you on a personal and professional level.
Maureen Cameron:
They did. I think it’s worth even expressing it with the two of you right now, is that the house’s mission statement is to enrich our community’s well being through service in order to live a fulfilling and joyful life. And our vision and value statements resonate with my own personal and professional goals, which are respect for all, compassion and kindness in our service to others, to uphold the dignity of every person, to honor faith and embrace differences, to act with integrity and accountability. Those are really important characteristics of our community. And I, for one, am very grateful that I’m a part of it.
Sue Lanza:
That really is great. We’re glad you’re here.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Tell us, Maureen, about what your office does in the context of this work as a retirement community and the various things that we do, which other people don’t necessarily do, or what we call a CCRC? Maybe you can explain your understanding of that and how that connects with your work with development?
Maureen Cameron:
A Continuing Care Retirement Community helps the elderly in various stages of their life. We offer independent living, assisted living, and also skilled nursing. As a nonprofit, we exist to provide our residents with the best quality care possible. When you’re a nonprofit, you try to operate a business prudently and have clear financial goals. From a fundraising standpoint, we need to raise money for potential gaps. The differences between the income coming in, say, from rents and fees and Medicare, as well as our expenses, so we can continue to give all of our residents the highest quality care, regardless of some issues that might come up on our balance sheet. So we raise money through a variety of ways. We do direct mail appeals at the end of the year, encouraging year-end giving. We host several events and maybe we can talk about them later in our podcast today.
We also encourage planned giving from our residents. There’s many tax benefits around. Being mindful and intentional in your giving, for example, you can make donations through individual retirement accounts that will reduce a person’s annual taxes. It also might meet their required minimum distribution or RMD. Many retirees must take out a certain amount from their IRAs each year. So that type of gift can actually check off two boxes for them because they can lower their tax obligation as well as fulfill their required minimum distribution. We can spend a whole podcast on planned giving. So I’ll stop there and maybe we will in the future.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I will say it’s a vitally important thing. I’ve seen this in churches, for example, where somebody made a gift to a church and they had no idea just how valuable it would be, not in terms of the financial aspect, but how much it allowed other things to happen.
Sue Lanza:
Right, it set a wheel in motion of other things.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Right.
Maureen Cameron:
Yeah, so to talk openly and candidly about these things, if a resident is committed to being sure that we’ll be around for another 140 years, it’s important that we have these conversations. And we certainly can have them. In terms of the foundation for The House of the Good Shepherd, we have been the recipient of several large and small bequests and our Board has been very wise and stewarded that money so that we can in turn, invest here. We’re currently undergoing a significant renovation.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I hadn’t noticed.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, really? You don’t hear the banging going on in the chapel services.
Maureen Cameron:
And the Foundation is covering the expenses for that. So we have been careful with our investments and we are able to really invest in and bring a few things up to speed. So we’re excited about that. Historically, when I look through the files as well, we’ve been the recipient of grant funds, many times through faith-based organizations and family foundations.
That’s something that hasn’t been as robust, but we can certainly explore that. What we want to do is ensure that we’re here in perpetuity, that we will be around regardless of things that come. So we haven’t anticipated and so we have money in order to do that and continuing in your high level of care.
Sue Lanza:
When you think of healthcare in general, the people who have succeeded are the ones who have been able to pivot through all the changes. COVID was a great example of that. You had to survive it in some way, shape or form. So the strong ones are the people who are able to do that.
Maureen Cameron:
Absolutely.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
That’s what a foundation or resources like that gives us, a cushion. When you bump into some hard times, as we have, to be able to say, “Okay, we’ll be alright. We’re going to make it through this and in fact, thrive.” Particularly as we look at these renovations, it’s going to be spectacular.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, sure. We’re really excited about that.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I know we’re all a little frustrated with the noise and mess at the moment and can’t get places. It’s worth it, in the end of it.
Maureen Cameron:
And in terms of creating a culture of philanthropy, you want people to be able to participate at any level that they’re comfortable with.
Sue Lanza:
Yes.
Maureen Cameron:
So planned giving, there can be significant gifts, but we encourage people to donate to a food-drive, or many residents came out to our tricky tray.
Sue Lanza:
Sure.
Maureen Cameron:
You want to meet them where they want to give and what really is motivating to them and what’s passionate to them.
Sue Lanza:
Right. If they’re going to go to an event anyway, the fact that it’s connected to some sort of a mission driven piece makes it all so much more worthwhile and people are more inclined to do it.
Maureen Cameron:
Absolutely.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Maureen, can you tell us a little bit about the Shepherds Fund? I know many folks have heard of it, and I know that’s some of your work, it’s not all of your work. I think that’s important to say, isn’t it? The Shepherd’s Fund is an important piece of-
Maureen Cameron:
The Shepherd’s Fund, historically, has been a very important piece. I think you both know, and others may know that the development office actually was inactive for a few years. So I’m new to this in terms of creating this culture of philanthropy, that there wasn’t a person in this role previously. But the Shepherds Fund ensures that any residents whose resources deplete over time, regardless of why, we have funds that enable them to continue to live here. So we would never ask someone to leave because they no longer can pay their rent.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I was astonished when I first worked here to find out that there are such places.
Sue Lanza:
Yes.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
From my perspective, again, from a charitable view and a nonprofit view, I guess in the for-profit world, particularly, if it’s not making a profit it doesn’t keep going. Meaning if you can’t pay, you can’t stay. We’ve created something over the years here that has allowed for a much more gracious and I think more generous view of what it means to be connected. Sue and I have talked a number of times on this podcast about the idea of this place as family. That was a word that got used early in the history of this place. But that sense of, you don’t kick family out, right?
Maureen Cameron:
Right.
Sue Lanza:
They’re getting annoying. Let’s just get rid of them.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Well, actually the holidays and everything, you might want to tell someone, no joking.
Maureen Cameron:
This is their home.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Right.
Maureen Cameron:
And they’re home here.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
We who work here, work in our residents’ home. That’s always an important reminder for us too.
Sue Lanza:
Now it’s one of the nicest things is the fact that we have a charity care committee and we work through situations as they come up here because it’s a lovely place and we don’t want people to have to worry about that if they get to a certain point in their time with us.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Maureen, could you say more about the culture of philanthropy? That’s a phrase you’ve used.
Sue Lanza:
And you touched on it a little bit, a minute or so ago.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Yeah. Say more about that? What is your sense of what that-
Maureen Cameron:
That everyone is committed to our mission. And when I say everyone, I don’t mean just me in the development office or Sue as CEO or Shawn as Chaplain, but our residents and our staff and the community overall, that we’re a nonprofit organization. We’re unapologetic about the fact that we raise money so we can deliver on our mission. And to stay true to your mission is really the foundation for your culture of philanthropy. So giving back again, at whatever level you’re comfortable with and understanding that your donations or your donation of your time is valued and it’s in pursuit of the mission of the organization.
Sue Lanza:
And I think one of the things that just popped into my mind when you were saying that was thinking about our independent living residents. They have their own little charity that they’ve come up with, which is the Employee Appreciation Fund that they collect for all year. Of course, it becomes more interesting to people as it gets closer to the holidays because they do make a donation of some sort to every employee, which I think is just so gratifying and really so sweet that they do that. These last two years with COVID they’ve felt cared for. And even though they were annoyed maybe at some of the rules that we put in place, it was all well-meaning. I think that fund had even more meaning to all of them and certainly to all the employees, to be able to receive what they give at their own level. It’s really very sweet of them.
Maureen Cameron:
It really is. They’re generous as well, to the chapel.I know they make donations to the chapel.
Sue Lanza:
Yes.
Maureen Cameron:
But our residents are our priority. Fundamentally, our number one focus is to make sure that their health and wellbeing is paramount. But our greatest asset as an organization are our staff. We need to make sure that they’re valued and that they play an important role here and that they’re rewarded. And clearly the residents see that and they do reward them financially, which I think is a lovely thing.
Sue Lanza:
I know you do lots of work behind the scenes in your office. All these campaigns and things have lots of little rolling parts to them. I know one of the things that you do is some of the splash year events that happened during the year, and for next year, of course, you’re starting to set your calendar of some things that might be coming up. So you want to talk a little bit about some of those?
Maureen Cameron:
Sure. So we have four events on the calendar and we’re very optimistic. We’re going to host events in person in 2022. In fundraising, the spring and the fall are usually the busiest seasons. So in the spring, we are going to host the Charlottetown Area Senior Hall of Fame. It will be at David’s Country Inn, right here in Charlottetown. This has been an event that’s been around since 1997.
Sue Lanza:
Wow.
Maureen Cameron:
There’s over 250 seniors inducted into the hall of fame. And so we’re hosting that and we’ll be collecting nominations. And that will be held again, at David’s Country Inn, on May 12th. We are also hosting an event that is revered in the local community in this area, and that’s our Wine and Dine, where we invite local restaurants and vineyards and breweries to come in and share some of their finest foods. We offer other ways to raise money that night, there’ll be a 50/50, of course, and we will have some auction items, but it’s an opportunity for us to also recognize people in the community.
And we are recognizing John Johnson, of John Johnson Automotive Group. He’s a wonderful person and asset in this community, out in Warren County. It’s our honor to honor him. Then in the fall, we will have our annual charity golf outing. We’re hosting that at Panther Valley this year, on September 19th. It’s a great day to come out and to play golf. A lot of our vendors participate and we hope to get residents out there for a lovely dinner. And then finally, we’re going to have our tricky tray again on October 15th. And hopefully it will be a beautiful outdoor event like we had this year where we were able to invite the community to come in and buy tickets. Again, at different levels people can participate. This is one way that the larger community just loved coming in and the residents loved coming out and bidding on prizes as well.
Sue Lanza:
That sounds like quite an ambitious [slate] of events that you have going on there. Hope you have some help with that.
Maureen Cameron:
Well…
Sue Lanza:
Now I think you can [crosstalk] .
Rev. Shawn Carty:
What is your phone number Maureen?
Sue Lanza:
We have a committee and some things, and we actually have a lot of department heads and managers who love to get involved in these things. That makes it all the more special because the residents come and we can all enjoy it together.
Maureen Cameron:
Yes. It’s team building all around.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Maureen, I’m curious, because you have traveled around the nonprofit world a bit, what do you think is unique about The House of the Good Shepherd, as you have come to know us? And just remind us when you started working?
Maureen Cameron:
I started in April, so I’ve been here eight months. It’s gone by very quickly. I can’t believe I’ve been here for that long. And what’s different is that I’m working in someone’s home. I’m raising money for people who actually live here outside of my office. And so I’m very close to the mission of my work. That’s always very rewarding. People who pursue these careers they’re not necessarily in it for the money. They’re in it to be rewarded in other ways. I just love the fact that I’m here among our population. That we’re working hard to raise money and make sure that they get the best quality care possible.
Sue Lanza:
I just think when you were just saying that you just reminded me, it’s like you walk down the halls, you talk to people. And some of these things that we’ve done some fundraising for, like the River Walk, we have a beautiful walkway that’s now paved along our river. That came about from resident suggestions. Our independent living residents wanted a safer way to walk down that pathway which was there. So they came up with that. Now we’ve expanded that. What can we put on it? Let’s put some benches. They want bird-feeders. One idea germinates and another one comes along and adds to it. That’s the beauty of it.
Maureen Cameron:
A big part of my work is ensuring that our residents feel like their time is valued and that they’re doing the things that they want to do. So we had a wonderful event that recognized the 20th anniversary of September 11th, back in September. They loved having a formal ceremony where we recognized those that perished. They’re very vocal that they’d like to have more events like that and they’d like to do more things. They loved the food-drive. They want to participate, not just here on campus, but outside in the larger community.
Sue Lanza:
Yeah, which is great because the connection to the community through a lot of these events is already established. So whatever we can do to connect them to that piece of it. When you came here, just like poor Shawn, when he got here, he wasn’t from the healthcare arena. So you’re in that same category.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Oh Lord have mercy.
Sue Lanza:
I’m touching a nerve here for him because he said to me one day, “How do I learn all these things you’re talking, PTA, CBS, FBI. What are you talking about?”
Rev. Shawn Carty:
I needed a dictionary. I had no idea what people were talking about.
Sue Lanza:
It’s true. So you’ve had that same indoctrination. You came in here and said, “What are these people doing? I need to learn all this.” But you had, just like he did, the bones of your own understanding of your way of doing things in your area. You just had to figure out a way to apply them to this new mystery land of acronyms and crazy things and jargon of things we say. But I know you’ve dug into that as well as you learned a little bit about what some of the past philanthropy had been here. So what has been this journey of learning about healthcare and learning about what’s gone on here?
Maureen Cameron:
So it’s been interesting. I love to learn new things and I’m still at a learning curve. I’m a healthcare worker now and it’s very interesting. It’s different. Much different than anything I’ve learned before. But the history of the fundraising here at the house has largely been focused on the Shepherds Fund, but I believe there’s a lot of other opportunities that we can be fundraising for. For programs and for expanded services for our community. I think that’s been the greatest opportunity here. I think the future is bright.
Sue Lanza:
I think that you and I have talked about that many times and we’ve both said this, but you’ve said it many times, that the opportunities here to do good work and more good work is just unlimited. So it really sparks for those of us who like to have a mission and a drive.This place provides it in spades.
Maureen Cameron:
It does. And we’re in a unique position with a robust foundation that can help us achieve great things in many, many areas that perhaps we’re not even thinking about now, but long into the future.
Sue Lanza:
So if I say the words Rainbow Bazaar, do you-
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Oh, I love the Rainbow Bazaar.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, I wasn’t talking to you.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Oh, sorry.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, okay. Pardon me? Well, we talked about that at a prior podcast, but I know that this is something that’s on your bulletin board in your office, so tell us?
Maureen Cameron:
Back in 1889, The House of the Good Shepherd, held a fundraising dinner to raise money for the building fund. Adult admission was 25 cents and children were 10 cents.
Sue Lanza:
Oh, my goodness.
Maureen Cameron:
The history of philanthropy here goes back to our roots. Clearly, through the years from 1882 through the first part of the 20th century, this organization was very well managed to the point that in the sixties, they were able to come out here to beautiful Warren County and purchase over 15 acres along the Musconetcong. So clearly, there was great financial management and great fundraising. And so it’s an honor to continue that into the future because we certainly hope to be around for another 140 years.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
Can we bring back the Rainbow Bazaar?
Sue Lanza:
Well, don’t you want to do your own thing or are you really that much of a copycat?
Rev. Shawn Carty:
For those of you who may be wondering why I was so excited, we talked quite a bit about that in the first episode of the podcast about the history. It was one of those seminal events.
Sue Lanza:
It really was.
Rev. Shawn Carty:
The history of the house when it was still in Orange, New Jersey.
Sue Lanza:
And we’re still discovering all that stuff as we’re going through papers and things. We’re finding all kinds of great things. And that was one of the wonderful discoveries.
Maureen Cameron:
Absolutely.
Sue Lanza:
So are there any things that you can think about, we’re talking about honoring some of the donors and some of the people have been so generous to us over time and we’ve talked a little bit about how we might honor some of them. Any thoughts on that going forward?
Maureen Cameron:
Well, our foundation was largely funded by one bequest from Rudolph and Edna Shank back in the 1990s. And that donation has really been transformative. That’s what’s enabling us to do this current upgrade here in 2021 and look to the future. And so we will honor the Shank family by naming one of the most important places on campus, beyond the chapel, Shawn. It’s our dining lodge. So we’re going to name it, the Shank Lodge. It’s really humbling to be able to keep this family alive and integral to our work. There was a dedication back in 2003, where they were honored as well. But I think it fitting for us to have a specific naming opportunity and honor this couple that loved it here. And clearly, we were an important part of their lives. I think it’s important that we continue that legacy.
Sue Lanza:
So what do you think that maybe managers or any of us administrative staff, what could we do to help foster this philanthropy at The House of the Good Shepherd? Well,
Maureen Cameron:
I’m slowly trying to get as many people involved in my work and for them to understand what I do here. Again, this role was vacant for a few years, so it’s new to some people. Just trying to get them to understand that this is our mission. And our residents are our mission, and caring for them is fundamental to what we’re doing. And we need to raise money in order to continue doing that long into the future.
Shawn Carty:
Maureen, is there anything else you’d like to share with us, based on our conversations today?
Maureen Cameron:
No, just that I think we have a very bright future. I think the opportunity is tremendous. Working with the management and with our board of trustees, I think we can do great things and continue to be a part of the community out here in Charlottetown, and just be a partner to other nonprofit organizations. We want to keep the mission of our organization front and center.
Sue Lanza:
Beautiful. So Maureen and Shawn, I want to thank you both for being here today. Maureen, it was great to get to know you a little bit better and for our listeners definitely to get to know you. So I’m Sue-
Rev. Shawn Carty:
And I’m Shawn.
Sue Lanza:
And we want to thank you again for joining us for another episode of House Guest. Join us soon for the next episode. Thank you all.
Maureen Cameron:
Bye. Thanks for having me.
Sue Lanza:
Our pleasure. Bye. Thanks for listening to this episode of House Guest, the podcast which is dedicated to all great things about The House of the Good Shepherd, a retirement community in Charlottetown New Jersey. To learn more about us, please visit our website hotgs.org.
Thanks for listening. See you next time.