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Foundation news
Stephenson To Lead Hospice Campaign
Durwood Stephenson, a well-known community leader, has agreed to chair the Johnston Memorial Hospital Foundation capital campaign to build an inpatient and residential hospice center for Johnston County.
Stephenson is founder and president of Stephenson General Contractors, a Smithfield-based firm that specializes in design-build commercial construction.
He is a licensed general contractor and real estate agent. Stephenson is a former member of the state Board of Transportation and the N.C. Banking Commission. He currently serves on the executive committee of the N.C. Global Transpark Trustee Board. In 2000, the Smithfield-Selma Chamber of Commerce named him Citizen of the Year.
"Mr. Stephenson is a great benefit to the capital campaign and the residents of Johnston County. He has a reputation for delivering projects on time, on budget and with great quality,” said Hector Perez, director of the Foundation.
As chairman, Stephenson will lead the effort to raise $3.8 million for the 12-bed hospice center, which will serve terminally ill patients. The eight-acre site, formerly Bingham Park, is on Hospital Road behind the hospital’s main campus in Smithfield.
Stephenson said he is embarrassed that Johnston County has no inpatient hospice center. The hospital and other hospice agencies offer in-home and outreach care. But patients and their families must travel to Harnett or Wayne counties to reach the nearest inpatient hospice center, he said. Stephenson thinks the hospice center is a project that can benefit everyone.
In every corner of the county, he is enlisting volunteers as co-chairmen to lead mini-campaigns in their communities. Already, the campaign has pledges and donations totaling $700,000. He is hopeful that all $3.8 million can be raised by year’s end and that construction can begin in March of 2009.
“I think everyone’s goal is to build the absolute nicest center for the dollars we raise,” Stephenson said. “We’ll be frugal. But we’ll build something we can all be proud of.” Contributed photo
Story courtesy of WTSB Headline News
1090 AM ~ Smithfield, NC
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