Shepherd Center to Rename Garden in Honor of Gift from Anna and Hays Mershon
Anna and Hays Mershon were special guests last summer at a luncheon held in Shepherd Center's Secret Garden.
The Mershons, who have been regular donors to Shepherd Center over the years, had recently informed J. Tyler (Ty) Tippett, senior director of planned gifts for the Shepherd Center Foundation, that they were leaving a significant gift to the hospital through their estate.
The luncheon, hosted by the hospital's co-founder, Alana Shepherd was held to honor the Mershons and inform them that the Secret Garden would henceforth be known as the Anna and Hays Mershon Secret Garden.
"When Shepherd Center suggested naming the Secret Garden (for us) in recognition of our gift," Hays wrote later in a note to Ty, "we were delighted not only because of our shared love of gardens and gardening over our entire married lives, but also because this legacy gift would help support a serene and healing oasis on the Shepherd campus that would benefit patients and their families across all of Shepherd's programs."
"The importance of planned estate gifts to Shepherd Center's future cannot be overstated,” Tippett says. “The patients and families who will benefit from Anna and Hays' generosity will be grateful they felt a calling to give back."
Anna and Alana Shepherd have been friends for 30 years through their Iris Garden Club activities, and Anna has also been a volunteer and board member of the Southeastern Flower Show/Southeastern Horticultural Society. Hays is a lifetime member of the board of directors at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
“It seems like every week Shepherd Center is on the evening news saving somebody's life, and we've also had friends who have been treated at Shepherd. It's such a great organization that we wanted to support their work. And there's an element of comfort and gratitude in knowing that they're there. We really admire what they do, and that's why we didn't designate our gift for any specific use.”
For more information on giving to Shepherd Center, click here.
By John Christensen
Photos by Louie Favorite
With five decades of experience, Shepherd Center provides world-class clinical care, research, and family support for people experiencing the most complex conditions, including spinal cord and brain injuries, multi-trauma, traumatic amputations, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and pain. An elite center ranked by U.S. News as one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation, Shepherd Center is also recognized as both Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems. Shepherd Center treats thousands of patients annually with unmatched expertise and unwavering compassion to help them begin again.