Lawrence Memorial Hospital volunteer Jan McCullough is one of two individual recipients of the Elizabeth Watkins Community Caring Award from the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association. McCullough received the award in part for creating the Hearts of Gold Ball, which is one of the Hospital's most well-attended fundraisers.

When Jan McCullough finally sold her Lawrence interior design business in 1995, she was looking for an opportunity to volunteer her time.

After serving two three-year terms on the board of the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association, she was named one of two individual winners of the Elizabeth Watkins Community Caring Award last month.

McCullough is credited with coming up with the idea for the Hearts of Gold Ball, a major hospital fundraiser and black-tie event that takes place every other year in Lawrence.

She also volunteers in other capacities for LMH, including decorating spaces inside the hospital, which is in line with her former business, Jan’s Interiors.

The endowment association is helping to raise $8 million toward funding a $40 million hospital renovation. Campaign leaders announced last week they have nearly raised $7 million so far.

The other individual Watkins award winner was Bea Carlson, who was featured in an earlier “Do You Know?” story.

What was it like when you first started with the endowment board in 1996?

I didn’t know too much about what I was doing at the time, but it turned out I didn’t need to know too much about medicine. I needed to know more about people, fundraising and how to get people involved.

Why have you dedicated time and effort to helping LMH?

This is a publicly owned hospital, but we get no funding from the city or county, and I think it’s very important that we have good health facilities for our community. As it has been improved under the current administration, we’ve drawn from a lot of outside areas that were going to Topeka and Kansas City. This makes it much more convenient. When you are sick, you need to get there quickly.

As I’ve gotten older and have a few aches and pains, I realize it’s important to have some place close to home that is well-equipped and to provide the services that we need.

Explain how you came up with the Hearts of Gold Ball.

I got started with some sort of volunteering and felt that the endowment needed to have (another fundraiser). I said, “Well you know, what would really be nice would be a formal affair that anybody would be able to come to.” They would have to buy a ticket, but they wouldn’t have to be a member of anything to come.

Then my second suggestion after that was we have it every other year than every year. A town this size we just get called all of the time for donations.

We’ve also never had it the same month, and people would think, “Well, are they ever going to do this again?” So they would be really anxious to come. That’s kind of how my ideas of the Hearts of Gold Ball began, and that has been our big fundraiser every other year.

Why do you enjoy living in Lawrence?

We stayed here partly because of the size. Of course that was back in 1958 … but we’ve enjoyed watching it grow and provide more things to our city so we don’t have to travel to Topeka or Kansas City to shop. But we like the size, and as we started a family, we like the schools. They are very good in Lawrence.

Were you surprised when you won a Watkins Award?

First of all, this is the first year for the Watkins awards. I really didn’t know too much about it. … It was a lovely surprise, and it was fun to have my family there. I felt very honored.

What I said later was that it’s nice to get an award for something that you have fun doing anyway.

– If you know someone who should be featured in the Sunday “Do You Know?” column, contact staff writer George Diepenbrock at 832-7144.