Foundation Update - Spring 2011
Letter from Executive Director
Dear Friends,
As I write this, it is a beautiful day in Oakland. While we are always grateful for the rain, the sun and the blossoming flowers all around us are welcome indeed after the long wet winter we’ve had in the Bay Area.
Just as spring brings new life and transformation, I want to share with you a new phase of my life: my retirement from the Alameda County Health Care Foundation after close to 20 years as its Executive Director. Over the past two years, as I inched closer to that “magic number,” I have been planning my retirement and considering “what’s next.”
Over the past several months, I have worked closely with the Foundation’s board of directors to develop a solid leadership succession and transition plan. Leading the board is our new chair, Clyde Thompson, who assumed this role in January. Clyde brings deep knowledge and experience to this role, having served on the board for nine years. Most importantly, Clyde shares a personal passion for the work of the Foundation and the Medical Center, which he shares in an article below.
As the incoming Chair of the Foundation’s board of directors, Clyde Thompson brings in-depth experience and knowledge of the Foundation, cultivated over the past nine years that he has served on the board.
As Cherlyn Spencer, Executive Director of the Alameda County Health Care Foundation, shared her memories of the past two decades, the answer to the question posed above became clear: it’s impossible. The challenge isn’t so much in the number of years; it’s in trying to tell a story that has involved literally thousands of people: board members, Foundation and Medical Center staff members, patients, volunteers, and donors. For Cherlyn, “it’s all about the people. So many people have been involved in the work of the Foundation. I never could have done it without their support.”
“All you need to do is give up a cup of coffee each pay period.” This is the simple message that Ngozi Ngumezi, RN, MSN Clinic Manager at the Alameda County Medical Center’s Newark Health Center, impressed on her fellow employees during the Combined Charities appeal last December. As the lead volunteer for Newark Health Center’s effort on behalf of this annual fundraiser, Ngozi encouraged her fellow employees to pledge whatever amount they could each pay period to support the nonprofit of their choice from among all those participating in the campaign.
