Advocate Spotlight: Lynn Baker

If CafeGive was a child, we would be a healthy six-month-old, starting to roll over and master finger foods. Oh, the simple things in life! But we are a healthy six-month-old organization, thus we are starting to master success stories that we’d love to share with you. One of them is the story of Lynn Baker, a CafeGive “Top Raiser” and an advocate for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. Lynn Baker is the Clinic Manager at Virginia Garcia Memorial Hospital at Cornelius. In addition, she is the Project Manager of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and is a friend of CafeGive Co-Founder, Ketan Sampat. The two met while working at Intel and both believed Virginia Garcia would be a great match for CafeGive. When asked how CafeGive has changed her shopping habits, Baker explained, “Yes, anything I buy, I first check out CafeGive.” The primary focus of her shopping is on books and music. To make her online purchases worth her while, she cashes in coupons and free shipping opportunities to save additional money. So far her favorite purchases have been: the Pink Martinis’ new CD, “Splendor in the Grass” (which she also bought for her sisters), Rupa and the April Fishes’ “CafeMundo” and a pair of KEEN shoes. One of the reasons Baker is our Top Earner is because of her Virginia Garcia Challenge, which she posted on her personal Facebook page as well as publicly on the Virginia Garcia Facebook page. Lynn challenged her friends to shop on CafeGive. For the first 10 people to shop on CafeGive and write about it on their own Facebook pages, Baker donated $10 to Virginia Garcia! She spends her time giving demonstrations to friends on how to use CafeGive, showing them how they can cash in on all the “after the holidays” sales! “Learn now, save later,” as Baker put it. For those who haven’t purchased on CafeGive yet, Lynn asks, “Why not? What are you waiting for?” If you’re buying online already there is no reason not to buy through CafeGive. And if you’re buying online for the first time, why not try CafeGive? It doesn’t cost anything extra. Just getting over that mental hurdle is the hardest part, which isn’t that big of a hurdle if you think about it. In summary, Baker says, “Some of the best work I’ve done, the rewarding kind, has been in the non-profit world. Finding new ways to give back is just wonderful. Something I appreciate is the opportunity to do it and CafeGive is just another way to do this.” So take Lynn Baker’s advice, get over that hurdle and start helping out a cause close to your heart, just by shopping on CafeGive!

Virginia Garcia was just named one of the top 15 Portland-area non-profits by the Portland Business Journal. Check out the article at: http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/12/virginia_garcia_health_center.html.

Shop online and support Virginia Garcia by checking out their profile page on CafeGive, advocating for them and purchasing great products like those under our Health and Beauty tab. Interested in learning more about CafeGive? Check out our website, Facebook Fan page, blog and Twitter. Involved with Virginia Garcia or another great health cause? We want to know, so be sure to leave a comment here on our blog.

Help Make a Difference in the Life of Migrant Farm Worker Family by Supporting Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center

Most parents take for granted the ability to take their children to a doctor should the need arise. For many migrant and seasonal farm workers who are parents, that is not the case. When 6-year old Virginia Garcia cut her foot, it became infected. Due to economic, language and cultural barriers in healthcare, Virginia died from what should have been an easily treatable wound on Father’s Day, as her own father worked in the fields, unaware of the tragic turn of events. Determined to prevent similar tragedies from occurring, the community rallied together to open the first Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center (VGHC) in a three-car garage.

There are many dedicated folks who passionately believe in this mission and have jumped in with both their feet -- one of them is Ketan Sampat (one of CafeGive's founders) good friend, Lynn Baker -- she started out in a volunteer position on their Foundation Board and eventually believed in Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center's mission enough to take a hefty pay cut and left the for-profit world so she could dedicate herself fully to this task.

The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center has expanded considerably since then and now provides over 110,000 office visits to more than 30,000 patients a year at four primary care clinics, three dental offices and two school-based health centers. VGHC provides high quality, comprehensive and culturally appropriate primary healthcare to the communities of Washington and Yamhill counties (the only federally qualified health center) with a special emphasis on migrant and seasonal farm workers and others with barriers to receiving healthcare. In addition they provide outreach to schools, community health fairs and to migrant and seasonal farm workers at local camps through a mobile clinic.

Some facts about the patients served at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center:

• 68% of patients are at or below the Federal Poverty Level (which translates to earnings of $20,500 a year for a family of four)
• 48% of patients lack insurance
• 63% are best served in a language other than English

Won’t you help Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center expand their care even more by creating and purchasing items that support Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center with CafeGive widgets?

For more information on Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center check out their profile page on CafeGive and become an advocate for them.

Interested in learning more about CafeGive? Check out our website, Facebook Fan page, blog and Twitter.

Involved with Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center or Cafegive? We want to know, leave a comment here on the blog.