Giving From the Heart

"I absolutely adore children," Mary Alice Quinn says. "They are gifts from God."

Mary Alice, a newspaper journalist for nearly four decades, never had children of her own. However, her compassion, love and concern for all children led her to name Le Bonheur as a beneficiary in her will.

"Children just melt me," she says. "They really do. So many families can't afford health care. If giving a little bit of what I can will help a child get the proper medical attention, it makes me feel fulfilled. When you've been fortunate enough to have been the beneficiary of God's loving ways I truly believe it is part of the DNA of those of us who can to reciprocate."

A member of the Le Bonheur Club since 1972, Mary Alice remembers pushing the coffee cart and the library cart at the hospital during her volunteer shifts. "Le Bonheur was a much smaller hospital then and as volunteers we tried to do anything we could to help the families," she says. "We would even stay with a child in their room so the parents could take a break."

Mary Alice found her calling early in life. While still attending college at Vanderbilt she wrote about young collegians on campus from Memphis for The Commercial Appeal. This assignment became a summer internship and then a full-time position was offered.

"I always thought I would teach," she says. "When they asked me to stay on permanently, I agreed to stick it out for a year." She retired from the paper after 39 years and 4 months.

Mary Alice believes Memphis is fortunate to have a pediatric hospital such as Le Bonheur. "Every city needs a great children's hospital," she says, "and so much of what Le Bonheur does reaches out so far. If God has blessed us with a few extra nickels, we should give it back where it helps. If we've been given good lives, good livelihoods and good friends, we have a personal responsibility to care for those who come behind us. For me, that is as much a part of living as learning how to swim or fly a kite. Once you reach a certain age, you can't fly a kite anymore and you look horrible in a swimming suit. And I sure don't need another pair of shoes!"

For information about naming Le Bonheur as a beneficiary of your estate, please contact Cathy Wilson, J.D., CFRE, CAP® at 901-287-5575 or catherine.wilson@lebonheur.org.