Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s Auxiliary inducted new members and celebrated another great year at the annual Auxiliary luncheon, held Thursday, Jan. 10, at the hospital.

The Auxiliary presented hospital president Dave Fox with a $290,000 donation that will benefit the Kenneth B. Holland oncology unit fund and the President’s Fund for Special Needs at the hospital. 

Fox whole-heartedly thanked the Auxiliary for their dedication to Good Samaritan Hospital.

“Your friendship, support and volunteer work is so important to us,” said Fox. “We couldn’t do these things without your support.”

In addition to funding, the hospital Auxilion volunteered more than 80,500 hours in 2012 in every area of the hospital – from checking in patients for surgery, greeting families at the front desk, delivering newspapers to patient rooms, and staffing both the Daisy Basket Gift and Gingham Tree Resale Shops.

Also at the meeting, Fox installed the 2013 Auxiliary board officers during a luncheon ceremony. Board officers include president Cheryl Kehl; first vice president Carol Kennedy; second vice president/financial secretary Dorothy Paige; secretary Cecilia Filas; treasurer Melissa Mueller; and parliamentarian Annette Goetz.

“Every time we walk in the doors [of the hospital] we feel needed, respected and valued,” Kehl said. “This is the essence of the volunteer experience at Good Samaritan Hospital.”