A year of hope

Home / A year of hope

Thank you for supporting Team Aubergine during COVID-19

Novant Health team members have risen to the challenges of a global pandemic with courage, determination and strength for more than a year. Many have made personal sacrifices and endured hardships at home while they continued providing remarkable care on the front lines.

Our communities stepped up in a big way and found opportunities to give grace and show compassion. We witnessed countless stories of neighbors helping neighbors, individuals and businesses donating time and resources to aid the pandemic effort, and community members doing their part by wearing masks and social distancing.   

Our donors stepped up like never before. Your gifts impacted thousands of lives through the Hope for Remarkable Team Aubergine Fund (formerly called the Novant Health Disaster Relief Fund), which recently reached its one-year anniversary.  

Established in March 2020 and seeded with a $350,000 gift from the David Tepper Charitable Foundation, the Hope for Remarkable Team Aubergine Fund connects Novant Health team members with gracious community support.

Novant Health and our communities stepped up to make the fund a heartwarming success. Novant Health provided $11.3 million to the fund and generous donors provided another $3 million. It was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented health crisis. Together, with your help, Novant Health Foundation was able to give hope to our healthcare heroes through personal financial assistance and in-kind support.  

Because COVID-19 prompted widespread economic uncertainty, team members used financial aid to cover a wide range of expenses, ranging from housing and utilities to child care and other personal expenses. More than 11,000 team members submitted requests for assistance with about 24,200 total requests across Virginia and the Carolinas.

Housing was the greatest need team members cited in requests for assistance. With reduced income, many received assistance for mortgage and rental payments.

James Blount was one team member who received help with housing payments. Blount is a chef and cashier at Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center. When the pandemic necessitated the temporary shutdown of the hospital’s cafeteria, it disrupted Blount’s income. Through the Hope for Remarkable Team Aubergine Fund, Blount received assistance to cover his rent for an entire month, a gift that gave him encouragement in this dire time.

“One more month gives me a fighting chance,” Blount exclaimed. “I can go to battle for one more month. I can make it.”

Tracy Beeler was another Novant Health team member who felt the unique impact of COVID-19. As a mobile mammography technologist at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, Beeler’s hours were temporarily reduced when health protocols prevented mobile mammography buses from circulating in surrounding communities.

Although Beeler was able to work part-time at a COVID-19 testing site, the economic impact on her household was real, as Beeler and her husband leaned on credit cards. Beeler submitted a request for assistance on their mortgage, which was quickly granted. For Beeler, the gift was a chance to return to helping others with peace of mind.

“I was very relieved,” Beeler said. “It lightened the burden, so I could concentrate on what mattered most, which is taking care of my patients.”

Caring for children at home proved to be a major challenge for our team members, many of whom worked long shifts and extra days when pandemic cases were on the rise. Through fund contributions, Novant Health Foundation provided more than $1.6 million to child care and dependent care expenses, including subsidized summer camps, so our team could continue providing remarkable care at work and at home.

While team members adhered closely to health and safety protocols, many spent nights away from home to protect at-risk children and loved ones from contracting COVID-19. Through the Hope for Remarkable Team Aubergine Fund, Novant Health Foundation provided $250,000 toward lodging needs for these affected team members.

Although the battle against COVID-19 is not yet over, Novant Health team members are finding many reasons to stay positive, due in large part to the gracious support of donors like you.

With your support of the Hope for Remarkable Team Aubergine Fund and everyday acts of kindness, we’re beating COVID-19 together.