If South Florida Baptist Hospital participates in a community event, there’s a good chance Jana Butler is there.
The South Florida Baptist Hospital Foundation’s executive director is proud to have been a conduit between the hospital and her home for the last six years, whether that means working at Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce events or even acting in the Mystery Dinner Theatre series.
“I think it’s very important, since the hospital is the largest employer in Plant City, that we support whatever they do,” Butler said.
Butler is a native of Fredonia, New York, a town of just over 10,000 people known for its state university and for growing grapes. She chose to follow her parents to Florida when it was time to go to college and, after graduating, settled down in Plant City with her husband. She’s a veteran of BayCare, having worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa for 24 years and South Florida Baptist for the past six. While working at St. Joseph’s, Butler decided to get more involved in the city she lived in.
“I figured if I was going to live in this community, I needed to learn more about it,” Butler said.
She started by joining the Junior Woman’s Club, of which she was a member for more than seven years and co-president for some of that time. Butler enjoyed working with the group, especially on the Shoe Project, and eventually found herself in the Noon Rotary Club. Butler is now in her third year as Rotary’s scholarship coordinator, helping students from Plant City High School and now Simmons Career Center fund their post-high school dreams.
Butler is especially pleased that a surplus of funds this year has enabled the committee to take things a step further: the 20 students who received Rotary scholarships in 2017 are eligible to re-apply and get more scholarship money if they’re doing well in school.
Since joining SFBH in her current role, Butler and her team have helped the hospital’s foundation increase its fundraising and expand medical services. The hospital’s Physicians Giving campaign, which incentivizes the hospital’s physicians to donate at least $1 per pay period to the foundation, has raised more than $95,000 thus far in 2018 — a 15% increase over 2017’s final total of $82,000. In the last six years, the annual Diamonds & Denim gala has added a live auction and other features to help the fundraiser rake in more than $100,000 annually. The 2017 gala brought in $118,000 for the hospital. In 2016, the foundation was able to meet its $1 million goal to build and debut its new intensive care unit.
“I’m proud of the growth that we’ve been able to make, being able to take a successful foundation and make it grow to help this community have great medical services,” Butler said.