Astoria community member donates $250,000 to BuildCMH Expansion Project
Contact: Sarah Bello
Astoria resident Linda Moreland has pledged a gift of $250,000 to the BuildCMH Expansion Project.
Moreland has served on the CMH Foundation Board and CMH’s Finance Committee for 10 years. She joined the groups after she moved to the Oregon coast from Portland. She is the board’s chair.
“My reason for making this gift to the project is really because of my volunteer service with the Foundation and the hospital,” Moreland says. “Over many years, I’ve gotten to know the hospital, its finances, operations and its management team. I really have a lot of trust in the organization and the leadership.”
Moreland has dedicated her time in Astoria to serving the community through organizations such as CMH and the Assistance League. She previously worked at M25 Advisors and Thrivent Financial.
She worked with her financial adviser to plan out a gift to the BuildCMH project. The pair decided to fund the gift through appreciated stock.
“I’ve been a saver all my life, so I was able to take care of some stock that I had in my portfolio and use that to fund a gift,” Moreland says. “The nice thing about giving with appreciated stock is you’re actually using money that you would have paid to the IRS to help fund your gift. It’s a way to leverage assets and make a larger gift than you might have otherwise thought was feasible.”
As a CMH Foundation Board and Finance Committee member, Moreland has been updated as the BuildCMH project moves forward.
“I’m very impressed with the planning work that’s been done on the BuildCMH project so far,” she says. “I’m really excited to see the new hospital being built. I think it’s going to be wonderful for the community.”
She cites the CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative, which opened in 2017, as one of the reasons she was encouraged to make a gift to the expansion project. The Cancer Collaborative is CMH’s most recently built facility.
Moreland says she has seen and experienced how great of a facility and resource the Cancer Collaborative is while living in Astoria: The project “is important to me personally as a resident of Astoria and to the wider community and southwest Washington. I think improving health in the community is one of the most important reasons for giving.”
Moreland hopes her donation inspires others to make a donation of their own to the project, saying, “I’m hopeful that other members of both the Board of Trustees and the Foundation Board will join me in this challenge and consider making a gift of their own so that we can help do our part to fund the new hospital.”
To learn more about the expansion, visit columbiamemorial.org/buildcmh.
To give toward the capital campaign, visit columbiamemorial.org/buildcmh-campaign.