Winter 2011
They have many reasons for volunteering, but they all share the same passion: find answers to cancer through research
The Hutchinson Center campus lies on the western flank of Interstate 5 as the freeway enters downtown Seattle from the city’s north side. At 60 miles per hour, it’s easy to go by without noticing much, except that all of the buildings share the same reddish brick facade.
“For a lot of us, the Hutchinson Center is just that huge complex by the side of the freeway,” said Matt Logue. “We see it every day, but we don’t know how relevant it is to our lives.”
“I was diagnosed with leukemia four years ago. It opened my eyes to the cancer side of the world. And I discovered the Hutchinson Center. The people who pioneered bone marrow transplants are right here in my backyard. I take a lot of comfort in that knowledge,” he said.
Today, Logue is a key volunteer at the Center. He is raising funds for innovative research but he also wants people to know that this is not simply a huge medical research complex—that first and foremost, it’s a place that truly cares about people. And so, he champions the researchers who continue to make strides against deadly diseases.
As a cancer survivor, he also understands all too well what the Center means to people struggling with cancer and other diseases.
The Center prizes volunteers such as Logue for multiple reasons. They’re often a direct link to patients who are treated at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance—the treatment arm of the Hutchinson Center; they stuff envelopes and staff events; they help raise funds to support research and they write plenty of thank you notes to donors and friends of the Center.
If you talk to volunteers, they will tell you that they prize their involvement with the Hutchinson Center for many reasons, from a desire to help advance science to helping patients who are undergoing a difficult time in their lives.
“The Hutchinson Center has saved the lives of so many of our friends,” said Karen Leslie, who spends several hours volunteering at the Center each week with her husband, David Hopkins.
“We volunteer because we love it. It gives us a purpose, and it’s given us a pretty rich life,” she said.
Here are the stories of a few of our volunteers, who tell us why they choose to spend their valuable time helping the Hutchinson Center.
‘This is who I am’
Charlene Steinhauer has been volunteering at the Hutchinson Center for 22 years. That’s right, 22 years. And guess what? She hasn’t lost an ounce of enthusiasm.
 Charlene Steinhauer |
“I come from a sales background. It’s what I love to do. And I have to tell you that for me, it’s easy to ‘sell’ the Hutchinson Center,” she said.
Her first volunteer role with the Center was the Hutch Holiday Gala, a fundraising event. Given her natural sales ability, one of her first thoughts was, “How do we take this event to the next level?”
And she did, helping stage three galas for the Center. Her involvement didn’t stop there. She and her husband, Greg, were charter members of the President’s Circle, a group of Center donors, and she is a member of the Center’s Board of Ambassadors.
Steinhauer, a Northwest native, has seen the Hutchinson Center “grow up” from a small place where bone marrow transplantation was in its early steps to what is now one of the world’s leading cancer and infectious disease research institutions. And during that time, she has helped raise millions of dollars in private funds to push research forward. She and her husband are donors as well.
“All of the answers to cancer and other diseases are in research, in science. This is where we’re finding the answers to eliminate disease,” she said.
Most recently, she promoted the Center’s immunotherapy research to prospective donors. The innovative treatment, which harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer, already has shown positive results by wiping out “incurable” melanoma in two people.
“This is new, this is different, and it was easy to get people inspired,” she said. “Being able to get a big gift for the Center to support immunotherapy during these hard economic times was an amazing boost. Ultimately, this is why I’m a volunteer,” she said.
Volunteering runs in the family, with daughters Sabrina and Celia already following in their parents’ footsteps.
“It’s our generation’s responsibility to teach our children about giving and doing. I’m always reminding my daughters about how fortunate they are. And yes, we’re leading by example,” she said.
“Sabrina, my 15-year-old, already is out there soliciting funds for Swim Across America [which raises money and awareness for SCCA and cancer research, prevention and treatment programs across the U.S.]. And Celia, my 8-year-old, wants to know what I’m doing and she wants to meet the people who work at the Center.
“Volunteering has become part of me, and I hope it becomes part of them. This is who I am.”
‘This is what we do’
Karen Leslie and David Hopkins sit across from each other on the fifth floor of a Hutchinson Center building, addressing acknowledgement cards and stuffing thank you letters to supporters of the Center.
 David Hopkins and Karen Leslie |
“My nephew was born premature. He needed blood, so I started donating blood, even though I wasn’t his type. It just felt like the right thing to do,” she said.
And it was the right thing to do when Hopkins became a bone marrow donor. Volunteering, you might say, runs in their blood. They have been part of the Hutchinson Center family since 1994, when they began to volunteer helping patients.
At SCCA, they “adopt” patients and their families during treatment. For some, treatment often takes several months in a city they hardly know.
“We pick them up at the airport, and so many of them are lost. They know nothing about the city, and they’re emotionally fragile. They need friends,” Hopkins said.
In the last 17 years, they have cared for nearly 50 patients and their families. Sure, it has been tough at times being the pillars of support for gravely ill patients, but the couple wouldn’t have it any other way.
“For us, it has been a privilege to be part of their families during such trying times. You become very close to them, and they become close to you. It’s incredibly gratifying,” Leslie said.
“We now have friends all over the country,” Hopkins said.
The two also organize a yearly Halloween party for young SCCA patients and they volunteer with the Chicken Soup Brigade. Leslie also donates her time to Gilda’s Club Seattle, a community group that offers social, emotional and educational support to cancer survivors.
“We love to volunteer our time. This is what we do,” she said.
Hopkins tries to sound more pragmatic about his involvement. “I feel like I owe Seattle some payback. After all, this is where I met my best friend,” he said, pointing to Leslie.
‘This is why it's personal’
A few years back, shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia, Matt Logue came to the Center with his wife, Elisha, and friends to listen to a science lecture. All of them were quickly mesmerized by Dr. Mark Roth’s talk on suspended animation, which before had just been the stuff of science fiction.
 Matt Logue |
Today, Roth’s research is on the cusp of becoming a technique that could be used to buy time for critically ill trauma patients on organ-transplant lists and in operating and emergency rooms.
“It was mind-blowing,” Logue said. “I was in pharmaceutical sales, so I was accustomed to seeing medical data and research, and hearing about discoveries that can lead to therapies.
“But I really wasn’t that in tune about where all of this stuff originates. To hear Roth, it opened a whole new world,” he said. He also noticed one other thing at that meeting: They were the youngest in the audience by a good 20 years. For him, it confirmed that the sciences needed more friends in his age group, younger professionals busy starting their careers or firmly establishing themselves in one, leaving little time to get involved in civic matters.
So, with their friends, the Logues became co-founders of the Center’s Innovators Network. As they envisioned it, the group is geared toward people age 45 or younger who give $1,000 or more annually to support the Center.
And so far, it seems to have hit the right nerve. “We just finished our third year, and we keep reaching out to more and more young professionals,” Logue said.
“These are people who really want to make a difference. I’m not wealthy. They’re not wealthy, and $1,000 is still $1,000. People give their money when it matters.”
“For me, science is critically important. I was fortunate that my type of leukemia could be treated medically, and this is why it’s personal.
“What the Hutchinson Center does has an amazing impact on so many people’s lives. For me and for them, the Center is more than a bunch of buildings by the side of the freeway.”
