ALABAMA NURSES' FOUNDATION, THE

Alabama Nurse, Jun-Aug 2005 by Beard, John

The Alabama Nurses' Foundation was established early in the 1980s as the philanthropic arm of the ASNA. In 2003, the ANF was reorganized by the ASNA President Dr. Juanzetta Flowers as a freestanding community based Organization to advance nursing in Alabama. A Board of Trustees, which has been led by John G. Beard, MBA/JD President of Alacare Home Health and Hospice, was formed and immediately became active. Others members of the Board of Trustees include: Ralph Chester, Rachel Booth, Cynthia Barginere, Kathy Ladner, Lacy Gibson, Connie Thrush, Don Williamsbn, Janet Donoghue and Juanzetta Flowers. Jon D. Bargainer and Minda Riley Campbell serve as Honorary members and Joseph F. Decker, II is ex-officio. Ralph Chester serves as Vice-President. Board meetings are currently held in the Alacare office on Highway 280 in Birmingham.

The Foundation is a charitable 501(c)(3) organization. ASNA provides limited staff support. The Executive Director of ASNA serves as the secretary and reporter for the Board of Trustees and the current ASNA President sits on the Board as liaison to the ASNA Board of Directors.

In an effort to increase the numbers of nurses in Alabama during this protracted world-wide nursing shortage, the ANF has set a goal to provide scholarships for graduate nursing students who are planning to teach future nurses. ANF's scholarships are available for students enrolled in any of the nine masters' in nursing programs in the state and are awarded each year at the annual ASNA Convention. Two scholarships for $1500.00 were given in 2004, to Jeffery L. Rowe and Michele Martin Montgomery. Plans are to increase the number to three recipients in 2005.

As part of its outreach efforts to become better known to more nurses in the state, the ANF sponsored an ASNA continuing education program in Clanton, Summer 2004.

Monies for the Foundation are generated by personal donations and by sales of the Lucinda pins that are sold by the ASNA at meetings. Further fundraising activities are being explored at this time. Your tax deductible gift to ANF is a gift to the nursing profession and the patients and families served by professional nurses throughout Alabama.

Respectfully submitted,

The Alabama Nurses Foundation has been designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) (3) organization existing exclusively for charitable, educational, scientific, and literary purposes. All gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible to the extent allowed by applicable law.

The Foundation invites and sincerely appreciates donations in any amount.

This year the primary goal of the foundation is to raise enough money to be able to offer several scholarships to encourage nurses to become nurse educators/faculty.

The public is already aware that this nation is suffering a severe nursing shortage. Alabama is not at this shortage level yet. Alabama's severe shortage is in available nurse faculty. What this means is that just about every school of nursing in the State must turn away qualified students because they do not have the nursing faculty to accommodate the increasing enrollment.

With the ever increasing costs of tuition the Foundation want to be able to offer scholarships to individuals interested in pursuing the advance degrees required to become a faculty member of a school of nursing. But help is needed.. Please invest in the future of nursing and nurses in Alabama. The Foundation invites and sincerely appreciates donations in any amount. If every nurse in Alabama would donate just a few dollars we could solve this shortage in record time.

Yes! I want to help. Here's my contribution to the Alabama Nurses Foundation.

John Beard, MBA/JD, President

Alabama Nurses' Foundation