AN AMAZING DONATION, AN AMAZING LIFE!

ByMikeMcGurn ThriftStoreOperationsManager

BSRI Thrift Stores recently received our largest donation ever from the family and estate of Cathy Hulbert Laney, who passed earlier this year. BSRI would like to thank local realtor David Stuart for referring Cathy’s family to us. And we’d like to thank Cathy and her family for this most generous gift.

A Special Donation

In late March, BSRI staff and volunteers picked up the contents of Cathy’s residence in Shallotte. We loaded up two box trucks three times and divided the donations between our Calabash and Shallotte stores. The donation included furniture, home décor, housewares, clothes, tools, sports and exercise equipment, and just about everything in between! We also picked up a large amount of shelf-stable food items for the food pantry at our Shallotte Center. We estimate this donation will likely generate about $10,000 to help BSRI provide programs and services for older adults in Brunswick County.

Cathy was a very special person, we soon learned. She was a unique, ambitious, active woman with an adventurous spirit and love for life. She went to high school in Anaheim, California and accepted a nursing scholarship from the Army. She completed the first two years of the program at USC and finished the last two years at Walter Reed. Then she served in the Army for six years, then the Air Force for 17 years! She retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1992.

In the army, Cathy got involved in competition sky diving. While in Japan, she served as president of the Okinawa Marine Sport Parachute Club. Cathy also was a licensed pilot who logged many hours flying small planes. She was interested in scuba diving, underwater photography, downhill skiing, and water skiing too.

A Love for Nursing

Cathy had a long and distinguished career in nursing and was a nurse practitioner working in pediatrics up until she died. She had a master’s degree in education and a second master’s degree in nursing from Rutgers University, where she also taught nursing. She also worked in nephrology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for 13 years.

She touched many lives and helped heal many with her expertise. We at BSRI would like to thank her and her family (daughters Nina and Cara and son Brett) for their most generous donation, which is sure to go a long way toward helping our local seniors. Thank you, Cathy, for being an amazing woman leading an amazing life that gave back to others in so many ways, and for sharing your donation with BSRI.

Ifyouwould like to include a gift ordonation to BSRI as part ofyour estate planning, please contact Debra Marlowe, Development Coordinator, at dmarlowe@bsrinc. org or910-754-2300 x1008.