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FELLOWSHIP VILLAGE RESIDENTS HONORED BY OVERLOOK HOSPITAL FOUNDATION

SUMMIT, NJ,... Two Basking Ridge women were honored by the Overlook Hospital Foundation for their lifelong contributions to Overlook Hospital. Mary Burke and Helen Hauser, both formerly of Short Hills and now residents of Fellowship Village Retirement Community in Basking Ridge, received Overlook Hospital Lifetime Achievement Awards at a Chairman's Dinner held at Baltusrol Golf Club.

"Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Hauser have exemplified the true spirit of volunteerism during their lifetimes," commented Richard F. Trabert, Chairman of the Overlook Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees. "Through their many years of work with the Overlook Hospital Auxiliary and local TWIG organizations, they were instrumental in establishing a network of volunteers that still exists today."

Together, with their late husbands, Mr. Trabert noted, they also participated in numerous capital campaigns to help bring leading edge services, technologies and facilities to the not-for-profit community hospital.

Mrs. Burke, a former member of the Overlook Hospital Board of Trustees and an active Auxilian, established several Short Hills TWIG groups in the 1950s, which remain active today. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, she observed the success of the TWIG organization affiliated with the Children's Hospital there and decided to begin similar groups to benefit Overlook.

"Ever since I moved to the area, I've had great respect for Overlook and the doctors there," said Mary.

She mobilized members of Short Hills bridge clubs, reading groups and newcomers groups to help sell cookies, flowers, and even ladies hosiery to raise money for the hospital. She and her late-husband, Coleman, were active in Overlook's 1957 Building Fund and The Center for Community Health Campaign.

Mrs. Hauser, a longtime Auxilian and an early recruit of Mrs. Burke's Short Hills TWIG organization, recalled that her favorite volunteer assignment was to give tours of Overlook's maternity unit and delivery room to expectant parents.

She also enjoyed delivering flowers to patients' rooms.

"Many of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren were born at Overlook," she says, "and I've enjoyed watching the hospital grow and flourish into a major medical center over the years."

Mrs. Hauser's late-husband, Alfred, was a member of the Overlook Hospital Board of Trustees in the 1960s and a founding member of the Overlook Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees from 1976-1980. Over the years, the Hausers participated in numerous Overlook capital campaigns, including efforts to fund an x- ray reception area, The Center for Community Health, a Medical Education program, the Neuroscience Institute and the Emergency Department.

The Overlook Hospital Foundation raises funds that are used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment and fund special programs to help Overlook, a not-for- profit organization, remain on the forefront of medical care. All gifts to the Overlook Hospital Foundation are tax deductible and remain at Overlook. Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Hauser have been residents of Fellowship Village since it opened in 1996.

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