Linda McBurney and Rosemary Bolitho have donated $1.66 million to the Huntsville Hospital Foundation.
The life-long friends recently sold their Lake of Bays cottage, allowing them to make the donation.
“It is important to us that the funds from the sale of the cottage remain in the community,” says Bolitho.
The pair donated to the foundation because of McBurney’s history. In May 2021, she was receiving weekly chemo treatments at the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital. She wanted to be cared for near where she lived. “I was surprised to learn that Huntsville Hospital offered a satellite chemo clinic,” says McBurney.
“Receiving a donation of this magnitude does not happen every day,” said Katherine Craine, Executive Director of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation. “The generous donation is the largest non-estate gift from a donor in the history of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation. We are forever grateful and thankful for the leadership and generosity of Linda and Rosemary.”
Craine says the foundation has been working with the pair since early June.
“We’re looking at our needs over the next 10 years,” she explains. Craine adds the money will go towards the foundation’s priority equipment needs, some of which are part of their Focus on Imaging campaign. Over the next decade, Craine says there are multiple “big-ticket items” that the hospital needs, like new x-ray suites that will cost around $500,000. Combined, the items will cost around $5 million, Craine says.
This, she adds, is on top of the yearly needs from the hospital like new bedside tables. Craine says this donation will make a positive difference in their fundraising efforts as they aim to ensure the community has access to the most advanced medical equipment.
“Thank you for choosing to allow the Huntsville Hospital Foundation to be a part of your legacy in such a meaningful way,” adds Craine.