Dear Friends,

Spring in Vermont is a wonderful time of renewal and promise.  New greens are climbing back up the mountains and lilacs perfume every village.  Everyone, it seems, walks around with a grin on their face.  Here at SMCS we, too, experience the hopefulness of the season.  But even amidst all this spring celebrating, there are still many worried folks in our towns.

So many of our friends and neighbors have lost their health insurance during this recession.  Some work for companies that have had to cut back on this important employment benefit.  Others have lost their jobs and along with those jobs the health care they counted on for their families. 

Of course, with or without insurance, children still get sick.  Many people are embarrassed by their situations and hide their need.  They are invisible until disaster strikes. 

At Springfield Hospital and our network of community health centers, we do not let our friend and neighbors go untreated.  Our free care has doubled, reaching into the millions of dollars last year and increasing even more this year.

We need your help.  Your donation to this year’s Annual Giving will help us make sure that none of our friends and neighbors go without the health care they need.  It may be someone you know.  But it is someone.  And SMCS is caring for them.  And we need your help now more than ever to continue that care.  Won’t you help?

Larry Kraft, Director, Foundation
May 2010