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MMAE

Laura Stallings Funderburg:
2015 James Gray Cannon Award Winner

MBy Gail Van Der Veer, Cannon Award Chair                                1929, founded the Southern Financial Campaign Bureau, a private
                     MAE is honored to present its 2016 Cannon           organization that helped southern communities plan methods to raise
                     Award to Laura Stallings Funderburg. She was        funds for charities.
                     nominated by Rachel Zink, executive director of
                     Arts For Life, a nonprofit organization dedicated     Her grandfather, Walter Scott Stallings, who owned Stallings &
to supporting pediatric patients and family members through visual       Co. drug store in Dilworth from 1929 to 1950, provided medicine
art, music and creative writing education. Her dedication, compassion    to families in the neighborhood, whether they could afford to pay
and dependability as a volunteer led to her nomination and selection.    or not. He also donated first-aid supplies to schools and sent care
                                                                         packages from his store to local boys serving in World War II.
  In nominating Funderburg, Zink wrote, “Laura brings top-notch
arts education to pediatric patients in her work with Arts For Life,       Her father, who contracted polio in Charlotte at the age of 15,
                                                                         was taught radio broadcasting during his recovery, which enabled
                      and we rely on her for the standard of excellence  him to record books for the blind and for injured servicemen who
                      she brings to every volunteer shift. She helps to  were unable to sit up to read. In his later years, suffering from
                      train new volunteers and interns, and brings her   post-polio syndrome, he still served others, helping to establish
                      own expertise and experience to her work with      Independent Living Services for the Disabled at St. Joseph Hospital
                      kids at the hospital.”                             in Memphis, TN.

                         Funderburg was invaluable in helping Arts         Funderburg’s philosophy and commitment is reflected in her
                      For Life launch its program at Levine Children’s   own words, “Arts For Life’s mission is a personal one for me, as
Cancer Center. She currently serves in an executive role on the Board    it perfectly mirrors my lifelong desire to nurture the minds and
of Arts For Life as secretary, as well as being involved in strategic    spirits of children facing serious illnesses and disabilities, and to
planning and fundraising.                                                encourage positive healthcare experiences for those children and
  Funderburg’s resume includes many years of volunteer service.          their families. The time I give seems very insignificant compared to
Wherever she has lived, she has volunteered — even serving for 40        the long and painful journeys that many of these children face, but
hours a week at a Children’s Center in London, Ontario. Her desire       the lesson I have learned is that a moment of creative joy can make
to serve comes from a family legacy of volunteerism. Funderburg’s        the darkest days very bright indeed!”
great-grandfather, W. S. Stallings, while living in Myers Park in

MMAE Grants and Disbursements 2016

MMAE is proud to announce $69,000 in grants awarded to 11 organizations that support the mission of MMAE by building a healthier
Mecklenburg County. These grants provide the following services and funding:

•	Assistance League of Charlotte — Supports  •	Hospitality House of Charlotte —                 horses for the Hippotherapy Program for
 Operation School Bell, which provides new    Renovation of kitchen facilities that serve the   children with disabilities. $7,500
 clothing and hygiene kits to disadvantaged   80 guests staying in the house each night and    •	Teen Health Connection — Transportation
 children in CMS schools. $5,000              the hundreds of volunteers who help prepare       for CMS high school students to attend “The
•	Camp CARE, Inc. — Summer camp for           meals for the guests. This includes new           Big Picture,” an engaging and dynamic
 five children fighting cancer. $3,000        counter tops and sinks that are durable and       theatrical production written and performed by
•	Care Ring — Funds Healthcare for            easily sanitized. $7,000                          adolescents, for adolescents, that addresses the
 Diverse Populations, a holistic chronic     •	NC MedAssist — Supplements the purchase          most critical and relevant challenges faced by
 disease program to address the high          of a pharmacy robot for the Free Pharmacy         our community’s youth. $6,000
 demand for cardiovascular preventive         Program. Pharmacy staff will be able to          •	The Epiphany School — Provides
 care and the management of hypertension      increase capacity by 300 percent and eliminate    therapeutic tools in classrooms to create more
 and metabolic disease in our Hispanic,       human error by counting medication and            positive learning for students who struggle
 Latino and African-American                  labeling prescription bottles. $13,500            with sensory processing issues. $1,000
 communities. $5,000                         •	Safe Alliance — Funds the Domestic              •	The Relatives — Funds Neighbor Care, a
•	Hospice and Palliative Care Charlotte       Violence Shelter Clinic, which provides free      safe option for minor children while parents
 Region — Funds Positive Approach to          health care services for children and adults.     are hospitalized, preventing the need for
 Care, a training program providing deeper    $5,000                                            foster care. In the first three years of this
 understanding of dementia and dementia      •	Shining Hope Farms — Purchases a lift            program, more than 425 children have been
 related behaviors. $6,000                    system to help patients safely on and off         kept out of foster care. $10,000

10 | June 2016 • Mecklenburg Medicine
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