Kathy Pompili is a most decorated fundraiser at Mon Health Medical Center.
That’s because the fundraising for which the longtime auxiliary member is known is most decorated.
It was Pompili who came up the idea of raffling Christmas trees, done out in full holiday cheer, to bring in additional monies for patient services at the medical center on J.D. Anderson Drive.
“I figured you couldn’t go wrong with decorated Christmas trees,” as she is fond of saying.
As it turns out, she couldn’t have been more right – about not being wrong.
Her signature fundraiser, known as, “Trees to Go,” is now in its 10th year.
Longview Power is the event sponsor for the 2022 edition and volunteers do the decorating.
The Mon Health trees traditionally have themes that are unique and creative, Pompili said.
“We have great volunteers,” she said. “They’re always coming up with something.”
The raffle is at noon today in Mon Health’s lobby and tickets may be purchased right up to the minute. Call the auxiliary gift shop at 304-598-1322 for more information. The gift shop opens at 7 a.m.
Pompili’s Christmas tree promotion has opened the door to national recognition over the years – while illustrating the deep roots the auxiliary has with Mon Health and the Morgantown area.
“It really is a wonderful event,” said Luella Gunter, Mon Health’s executive director of philanthropy.
Over the years, the medical center has served generations of University City residents and their families.
Mon Health began its life here as the former St. Vincent Palloti Hospital, which through the early 1970s was located in a bustling building on Willey Street, downtown.
The auxiliary has been right there, also, bringing in charitable dollars – plus a bit of black-tie glamour – with its annual Ball of Year, an altruistic harbinger to the holiday season.
Dollars raised have mostly gone for the purchase of high-tech diagnostic equipment, such as portable ultrasound machines. Pediatric care rooms have also been built with auxiliary offerings.
John F. Kennedy was still in the White House when the auxiliary got into the serious business of fundraising.
That was in 1962, when the auxiliary sought dollars for the addition of patient bathroom in the maternity ward. No such facility existed before.
The 2021 “Trees to Go” raffle brought in $9,000 for the hospital, Pompili said.
Call that a prescription for significance, she said – in that most participants that year went with the $1 ticket.
“We’re pretty proud of that total.”
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