Puyallup’s mayor is raising funds for gift cards to give hospital employees a boost
Puyallup Mayor Julie Door organized a GoFundMe page earlier this month to raise money for Starbucks gift cards, which will be distributed to 2,134 employees at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital.
Door created the GoFundMe page on Sept. 2 and had $6,050 as of Sept. 10. Individuals and groups such as the Rotary Club of Puyallup have donated so far. Door set a goal of $10,640, which she hopes to reach by the end of the month.
Door said she knows employees at the local hospital are fatigued and have been stressed for a long time. She thought she could show support for the employees by raising funds to give each of them a $5 Starbucks gift card.
“They’re operating inside the walls of that hospital under extreme stress and working conditions,” Door said. “We’re trying to think of what we can do to show them that we haven’t waned our support for them.”
The gift cards will not only benefit the nurses and doctors — they will also go to the custodial workers, kitchen workers, laundry staff and other employees, Door said. She settled on Starbucks gift cards because there is a shop inside the hospital.
“They could grab a cup of coffee or put it towards a sandwich or something to help them,” Door said.
The gift cards will be accompanied by a note from children at local schools that volunteered to write letters for employees at the hospital, Door said.
“MultiCare is happy for the community support of our health care workers,” Holly Harvey, media relations manager for MultiCare, wrote in an email. “Our staff do an incredible job in caring for patients and we appreciate the community showing them support.”
