The HudsonAlpha Foundation has received a $50,000 gift from the James Cecil and Margaret G. Ashburn Family Foundation to support the Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine. To recognize the foundation’s generous gift, the Check In/Check Out room is named in the Ashburn Family Foundation’s honor.
“Cecil and Margaret would have been so proud that their foundation is supporting the clinic. Cecil would have been especially proud that this work is
Ashburn Family Foundation board members John Ashburn and Chris Hinson
being done in his hometown,” said John Ashburn, Cecil’s nephew and Ashburn Family Foundation board member. “We’re happy we can help carry out your vision.”
“I know Cecil would be so happy to support the work the Smith Family Clinic is doing to help patients and their families,” said Chris Hinson, an attorney specializing in estate planning who helped Cecil set up the family foundation. Hinson is also an Ashburn Family Foundation board member and a member of HudsonAlpha’s Professional Advisors Council.
Cecil Ashburn was born in 1920 and grew up during the Great Depression. He joined the Army right before World War II started. During the war, he learned the road construction trade. After the war, Cecil returned to Huntsville and started his own road building business. His company built many roads during Huntsville’s rapid growth, including U.S. Highway 72 West, most of Memorial Parkway and the runways at Huntsville International Airport. Ashburn set up his family foundation in the 1990s with the intent of helping the local community after his death. Ashburn died in 2012 at the age of 92.
The Check In/Check Out room is a private area where office staff meet with patients to go over paperwork and payment information.
“This donation really touched my heart,” said Carol Aiken, office administrator of the Smith Family Clinic. “Having a private area where I can talk to patients or their guardians is such an important part of providing a positive experience for our patients and their families.”
“For the Ashburn Family Foundation to provide funding to support the clinic is heartwarming,” said David Bick, MD, medical director of the Smith Family Clinic. “This clinic provides an opportunity to help children and adults who have been on a diagnostic odyssey. These patients have gone from physician to physician and spent years trying to figure out what’s wrong. This clinic’s purpose is to help those people. Thank you for supporting us and believing in our mission.”
