Randie and Deanna Lawson have had a heart for the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital for many years, ever since a relative received cancer treatments there. When they made their donation to help develop a pediatric patient room, they didn’t use the relative’s name or their own.
Instead, they designated it the Power Room. A plaque just outside the door is inscribed simply with “Romans 15:13.” Deanna is quite familiar with that Bible verse, since its words are on a small plaque sitting above the coffee pot in her kitchen: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with the power of the Holy Spirit.”
“If somebody is in there, they need hope and Jesus,” said Deanna, a local leader in Bible Study Fellowship, an international organization with chapters in more than 120 nations.
“I wanted to name it and put Scripture on the plaque to point to the Bible and relying on Jesus for hope and faith.
“Believers would get that and non-believers might at least open the Bible and find faith and hope in what they read. It’s the Power Room. There’s power in the Holy Spirit, in prayer, and in the Word of God. It seemed fitting for what we wanted to accomplish.”
Their gift to the Cabell Huntington Health Foundation isn’t limited to monetary contributions. Randie is also the chairperson of the board of the Marshall Health Network. He originally joined the Cabell Huntington Hospital board in 2015.
Serving is a great way to give back to the community that has given him and his family so much throughout the years, said Randie, President and CEO of Mountain State Waste. The garbage collection service operates in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
“We wanted to try to have a better community,” he said. “I had two goals from the time I started on the board: better healthcare for the community and creation of economic opportunities for young people and others. We always asked what we could do to better things in a big way.”
