COLUMBIAMEMORIAL.ORG WINTER 2024 7 When Jody Stahancyk was a child, her family’s church underwent a renovation. Over a discussion at dinner, she asked her father what their family gave toward the work. “He said, ‘[We provided for] the subfloor.’ And I said, ‘But that doesn’t show.’ And he said, ‘That’s not the point of giving,’” she explains. Stahancyk and her husband, John Crawford, recently announced a $250,000 gift to the BuildCMH Expansion Project. But, she says, true giving is not about the amount or what you can show from it — it’s what comes from the heart. And it’s important to do for the community, they both emphasize. Making a difference for the community Stahancyk has had an office for her law practice, Stahancyk, Kent & Hook, in Astoria since the early 2000s. She and Crawford are both attorneys and were mainly Portland residents with a longtime family home on the coast. They moved to Clatsop County permanently in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The next year, Crawford was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment in Portland. But he quickly transferred his care to the CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative in Astoria. “I just received outstanding care there. I can’t say enough about it,” Crawford says. “The staff, the doctors, the nurses at the facility were outstanding, caring and very professional.” As newer residents on the coast, the couple agrees that when someone becomes a part of a community, they need to give back. Crawford serves as president of the Palisades Homeowners Association, and Stahancyk is on the Clatsop Community College board. Both feel strongly about giving to the expansion project for three reasons: their thankfulness for Crawford’s cancer treatment, their intention to be a part of the community, and the opportunities the expansion will offer for residents of the Columbia coast region in terms of offering better health care and a safe refuge from a natural disaster. “The other reason is that we want to be able to show our children and grandchildren that a part of being blessed is that you give back,” Stahancyk says. “It needn’t be a huge amount, but it must be something that as a group you consider to be important. When John and I shared with our children that we were going to make this gift, each of them said, ‘We’re so proud.’” The couple has encouraged their family to give back to their own communities in whatever way they are able and would like to see others on the coast join them in giving to the hospital expansion project. “It is with great joy that we make this gift,” Crawford says. Giving comes from the heart Jody Stahancyk and John Crawford make $250,000 commitment “It is with great that we make this gift.” —John Crawford JOY A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING Find out more about the BuildCMH Capital Campaign and how you can be a part of it at columbiamemorial.org/ buildcmh-campaign.
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