HFMA’s Region 5 raises more than $17k for Charleston, South Carolina, nonprofit, Amor Healing Kitchen

Region 5 raised 22% of Amor Healing Kitchen’s $80,000 budget for this year during its three-day Southeastern Summit in February.

Maria Kelly, founder of Amor Healing Kitchen, (center), holds an oversized check made out to her not-for-profit organization. She is surrounded by Region 5 team members, who include, from left to right, Jude Crowell, Heather Thomas Crowell, Jasper Powell, Robert Griffin, Danielle Gori and Michael Jebaily.

The Region 5 board agreed to make Amor Healing Kitchen (AHK) the beneficiary of its charitable contribution at this year’s Southeastern Summit at the suggestion of Lawrence A. Laddaga, FHFMA, who serves as board member for both HFMA’s South Carolina Chapter and AHK.

Laddaga, founder at Laddaga-Garrett, P.A., Attorneys and Counselors at Law in Charleston, South Carolina, is a 37-year member of HFMA.

Who contributed?

Mike Allen, HFMA national chair, said the fundraising portion of the event emulated his “Dare You To Move” motto.

The funds were raised in a variety of ways.Jude Crowell, chief client officer at ApprioHealth in Nashville and Region 5 executive along with his wife, Heather Thomas Crowell, vice president of national accounts at RevSpring, solicited CFO’s throughout the region to be part of the fundraiser. At a live auction at the event, attendees bid to have lunch or dinner with a CFO, raising $10,000 of the $17,320, according to Laddaga.

On behalf of the South Carolina Chapter, Michael Jebaily, FHFMA, president of the Chapter, added $5,000, from the event’s overall revenue, toward the charitable contribution. Jebaily is a director at PwC in Columbia, South Carolina.

“Heather also ran a silent auction with donated items that raised another couple of thousand,” said Laddaga.

Event participants received $25 cash for a “lunch on their own” one day, and more than 60 members donated their lunch money to AHK.

Who ensured the event’s success?

Key to the success of the event, according to Laddaga, were:

• Danielle Gori, FHFMA, CHFP, CRCA, manager of post pay audits at Ensemble Health Partners in Greenville, South Carolina, and a co-chair of the event
• Robert W. Griffin, director of business development at Deco in Greenville, South Carolina, the South Carolina Chapter Treasurer 
• Jasper Powell, FHFMA, CRCR, CRCA, Epic hospital billing analyst at Prisma Health in Greenville, South Carolina, South Carolina Chapter President-elect and a co-chair of the event

“I’ve said HFMA is family to me,” Laddaga said. “I’ll be able to add this story to all the others I tell when I explain to people what that means. [Region 5] deserves all the credit and recognition it can get.”

See members volunteering in the “Amor Healing Kitchen and HFMA Region 5 Summit” YouTube video. Photography and videography by Georgia Chapter’s Max Smith.