By Stuart J. Thomas, OD,
and Ellen Byrum-Goad, LDO
Dec. 14, 2016
SYNOPSIS
Your patients care about making a difference in our troubled world–especially at this time of year. Here are seven steps to show that you and your staff share their values.
ACTION POINTS
SUPPORT LOCAL CHARITIES. Your local Chamber of Commerce is a good place to start, and also you can learn of local charities by talking to your patients about their interests outside of work and school.
TIE TO PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. If you have a doctor or support staff member who has been touched by a disease, or another struggle, participating in a related charity is especially meaningful to staff and patients.
ENGAGE STAFF. Give staff an incentive to raise money for charity, such as offering additional paid time off to the one or two staff members who raise the most for a particular cause.
LET YOUR CARING BE KNOWN. Make community caring and charitable giving a
Introducing your practice to your community means more than just showing off your services and new products. Participating in charity efforts shows current and prospective patients that you care about the same things they do, creating an affinity and loyalty for your practice.
We are members of two counties’ Chambers of Commerce – ideas for which charities to work with sometimes come from them. We look for charities, or programs, in our Athens, Ga., community that our patients are involved in. There is so much need! In addition to participating, we publicize our participation on our practice Facebook page.
A pumpkin designed by one of Thomas Eye Center’s staff to depict the Grinch from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. Each October, the staff decorates pumpkins, and patients pay to vote on which pumpkin is best. Money raised goes toward charities that help uninsured women receive mammograms.
Make a List for New Year of Charities to Participate In
To give you ideas for the kinds of charities your practice can participate in, here are some of the philanthropies we support.
In 2015, we nominated Butterfly Dreams, a therapeutic horseback riding camp for children experiencing trauma, for the annual ABBCares contest – and they won! Butterfly Dreams was awarded a $1,000 check by ABB OPTICAL GROUP for continuation of their services.
Also in 2015, we did a Holy Moly Ravioli campaign that supported Athens Churches Together Serving (ACTS). We collected cans of ravioli and delivered it ourselves to needy families during the holiday season.
Every year we participate in Toys for Tots, serving as a local drop-off location, for patients and others in our community to easily donate gifts to children in need. This has been a hit with our patients, who appreciate being able to easily give to this charity while visiting our office.
In 2017, the whole practice is attending Starry, Starry Night, the annual fundraiser for Prevent Child Abuse in our five-county area.
Every year we do baskets for silent auctions for many charities, which usually include a pair of Costa sunglasses, t-shirt, koozie and a couple of gift cards to our practice for services and eyewear. These auctions have benefited St. Mary’s Hospital Children’s Services and Teacher of the Year for Oconee County, for which we donated a basket filled with school supplies. The practice pays for the silent auction baskets we donate, but we also work with our vendors for savings on the sunglass frame giveaways featured in some of the baskets.
Every other year The Georgia Club sponsors a Tour of Homes with all proceeds going to charities in the area. We advertise in the Club’s brochure, and we give silent auction items for the fundraiser.
We buy practice uniforms, which resemble business suits, twice a year. Each time we switch out our uniforms for new ones we donate our gently used uniforms to ACTS. We have been told by ACTS’ local director that women have worn our uniforms to job interviews.
Tie Charity Involvement to Doctor & Staff Personal Experience
Sharon Thomas (Dr. Thomas’s wife) is a breast cancer survivor. During her diagnosis and treatment, the whole staff wanted to find a way to get involved in supporting her and fighting breast cancer. We decided to create personalized pumpkins and then fund-raise for our pumpkins. We have our pumpkins on display for a few weeks every year in October, with patients who visit our office voting on which they like best. Each vote costs $2, or $5 for three votes, with all the money raised going toward organizations that help needy women receive mammograms, such as St. Mary’s Imaging. We are very particular about where we donate money – this money is earmarked to go directly to women who are not insured to receive mammograms.
For those of us who were not born with an artistic bone in our body, the pumpkins usually turn out hilarious (e.g., Yoga PumpKEN – Dr. Thomas’ 2016 entry). This year we had pumpkins depicting Pokemon, Oscar the Grouch, the Grinch and the Cheshire Cat, among other famous and not-so-famous characters. Patients love the pumpkins! We had a patient buy the Grinch pumpkin this year.
The employee who raises the most money for their pumpkin receives a $100 prize and eight hours of paid time off. The second place employee receives $50 and four hours of paid time off.
We have been decorating pumpkins for four years. Last year we raised $3,250 that was donated to the Tyanna Foundation. Our goal for 2016 for St. Mary’s Imaging was $3,500.
The decorating is done on the employees’ personal time. The office buys the pumpkins from a craft store and then the practice (Dr. Thomas) also matches the money raised up to $1,000. This year’s pumpkin contest netted $4,361 total: $3,361 raised plus Dr. Thomas’ $1,000 match.
The decorated pumpkins, and news of the winners, and the money raised, are posted to our practice Facebook page.
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Stuart J. Thomas, OD, is the owner of Thomas Eye Center in Athens, Ga.
Contact: StuTh2@vsp.com
Ellen Byrum-Goad, LDO, is practice manager. To contact: Ellen.Goad@thomaseyecenter.com
