Ashley Foster blends Cottonmouths job with passion for helping kids

As president of business operations with the Columbus Cottonmouths hockey team, Ashley Foster understands the value of a dollar. But as a volunteer contributing to the Children’s Miracle Network, she also knows the value of giving time and effort with passion.

For Foster, 33, much of her effort goes toward organizing and planning the annual Tip-A-Snake fundraiser for the children’s organization. But any time she can be of help to that cause or the Columbus Regional Health Foundation, she’s more than willing and able to do what she can.

Volunteering itself may not be considered a “job” by some, but there’s no doubt it’s a tangible benefit to the bottom line of any organization. A charity-based coalition called Independent Sector estimated that in 2014 the value of a volunteer’s time was $23.56 per hour. Foster figures she chips in between 75 and 100 hours each year working with Children’s Miracle Network and Tip-A-Snake, some of it on company time considering the obvious connection between the two.

The Ledger-Enquirer talked with the military spouse and Fayetteville, N.C., native about her volunteer “job” and why it’s so important to her. This interview is edited a bit for length and clarity, with an expanded version at ledger-enquirer.com.

Q. Tell us about your day job?

A. I’m the president of business operations with the Cottonmouths. I manage all of the business aspects of the organization. I oversee all of the accounting, sales, promotions, marketing, everything. I have my own accounts, so I work with a lot of people in the community in sales, and then Tip-A-Snake, which is our big fundraiser for CMN (Children’s Miracle Network), was one of my big projects this year. I wanted to make sure it went really well, so we worked hard on that.

Q. Is it a case of volunteering helps you relax in a sense?

A. Yeah, it is. (laughs) Working with CMN is kind of my downtime, so to speak.

Q. How long have you volunteered?

A. I’ve been off and on with CMN since 2005. That’s when I started the first time with the Cottonmouths, and my husband is military, so we moved away for a little bit. I’ve answered their phones during the radiothon some time ago, while a large portion of my volunteering has been with Tip-A-Snake, the event that we put on with the Cottonmouths and CMN together. With that particular event we get to do so much, planning the event, putting together the silent auction, getting sponsors and things like that. Even while I was away — we lived in North Carolina for five years while my husband was stationed there — I wasn’t able to do things, but I still donated because CMN had become a part of my life. It was something I needed to stay connected to.

Q. Why is that cause a passion for you?

A. I know for the Cottonmouths, the organization side of it, it’s a natural fit. We want to be a huge part of the community and we want to give back, but we want everything to stay local as well. While there are many organizations in the area, working with children was just a natural fit for us. It’s something our entire staff is able to get behind, and it’s something that our players can really get behind. As an organization it’s something that our culture fosters and makes a strong focus for us.

A. Personally, at first I just thought I liked children and wanted them to be taken of. Then, when I moved away, I had my second child and he was in NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for a week, and we were in North Carolina and did not have a children’s hospital close. So we actually spent a week in Chapel Hill, N.C., which was over an hour away from where we lived. It’s become more of a passion of mine because I’ve seen how it can be when you don’t have those resources available. I think it’s important for Columbus to have those resources here.

Q. What’s your day-to-day life like as a volunteer? Do you spend lots of time at the hospital?

A. A lot of mine is meetings and working with Tip-A-Snake and raising money. Our players visit there at Christmastime and our owner donates. We bring gifts and things like that. If they need medical supplies and other things we can purchase, we do that as well. I try to raise money. I’m also a resource for the (Columbus Regional Health) foundation. If they ever need anything, I can help.

Q. Your goal is to raise as much money and as much awareness as you can?

A. Yes, money and awareness, because ultimately they need money for the technology that’s advancing (care and treatment) and being able to help those children that are in the NICU and that sort of thing. We even helped the Miracle Riders this year. They donated a bed to the NICU there at Columbus Regional, and we held a fundraiser night here with them.

Q. Any idea how much money you’ve helped raise?

A. This past year we were able to raise almost $37,000 in one night. And we helped with the Miracle Riders and in one evening, between different things — jerseys that we auctioned and those sorts of things — were able to raise $30,000, I think. This is our 18th year for Tip-A-Snake, and every year we average between $30,000 and $40,000 in that one night. We’ve contributed, I believe, just over $500,000 over the 18 years.

Q. Why in your mind are volunteers necessary, yourself and others? It saves organizations money?

A. It’s helping, and it’s not just helping one person. It’s helping the entire community. When you volunteer, yes, you’re fulfilling a passion, but ultimately you’re giving back to the community that gives back to you as well. It’s something that you’re able to do that doesn’t cost you money, it just costs you time. If you can just put your time into it and your effort, that can come back like ten-fold. If you volunteer with an event … you save those dollars and that money is able to go directly to the children, or directly to the hospital for whatever items they need to purchase.

Q. What’s the most challenging aspect of volunteering with CMN or any other cause?

A. I think it’s just awareness. Everything I tend to volunteer with is very event driven, so I want people to know about that. Marketing is always a challenge and making sure that everybody knows what’s going on … letting them know what it really goes toward and that it is helping the children and helping the hospital, and making sure that these families have a resource in the community and don’t have to go outside of Columbus. It’s a huge asset to the community to be able to have that here.

Q. Is social media a major help?

A. Yes, and I’ve seen it transform. Back in 2005, social media wasn’t a huge thing at all. It was a tiny blip on the marketing radar. So having seen it grow, social media has become essential to what we do. Like with Tip-A-Snake, there’s an event page for everything we do. There’s notifications being sent out. I think it’s allowed us to grow the event, to get different people at the event, because for awhile it was the same people coming every year. With social media, it helps with people who wouldn’t normally know about the event or normally come or normally give to the cause. Social media has been imperative in growing it and making it what it is now.

Q. What do you say to someone on the fence about volunteering?

A. I say stop thinking about it and just jump in and do it. That’s easy for me to say. But even if you only have 30 minutes or have an hour, and even if it’s just that you can be a resource for the organization, then take the time and make a phone call and let them know what you can help them with. It doesn’t have to be that you spend hours on end doing anything. Any small effort that you can provide will be tremendously appreciated by the organization.

Q. Just stick your toe in the water and you might just like it?

A. Yeah, just jump in. (laughs)

Q. What’s the most rewarding aspect of volunteering for you, simply making you feel good?

A. It does, and you get chills, and feel this enormous pride whenever you complete an event or a fundraiser or whatever you’ve been working on. Did you probably have something go not quite the way you wanted? Absolutely. But when you hear (the words) that what we’ve done has raised that amount of money, and we’re able to purchase something for the hospital, you know you’re helping at child, at least one child. You could be helping hundreds of children, because if it’s a NICU bed that was purchased, only God knows how many children are meant to be in that bed that you helped purchase.

And it’s not that you have to be part of something that raises $40,000. You can be part of something such as just being there – reading to the children or visiting the children, anything like that. Yes, I get warm and fuzzy, and I’m not really a warm and fuzzy person. But this is something that truly hits my heart every time.

This story was originally published July 2, 2016 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Ashley Foster blends Cottonmouths job with passion for helping kids."