Catalyst Award: Cloud L. Cray Jr. and Sally Cray Family

Speaker 1: And you can have a seat whichever chair you would like.

Speaker 2: As a family, we are very honored that the Cray name is on the Cray Diabetes Center.

Speaker 1: And your doctor will be with you in just a few minutes.

Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you.

Speaker 2: That is our biggest legacy that my grandparents actually founded this program and went forth with it in the way that they did.

Susan Robbins: Mom lost two boys in between me and Cathy because of diabetes.

Cathy Scruggs: Because of diabetes.

Susan Robbins: And they didn't know, and they didn't have the technique or realize that pregnancy brought on the diabetic problems.

Cathy Scruggs: There's so many people with diabetes of course now. I can't go anywhere. I was at my nail shop just yesterday, and the girl that was working on me indicated her mother had diabetes. And when she heard about our clinic, she said, 'bless you. I mean, you've probably saved my mom.' You don't realize how many people are struggling with that.

Susan Robbins: It controls your life. And what the Cray Diabetic Center does is to put you back in control. And I would wish that for not just my mother, but for other people.

Speaker 6: Do I need to change any of these?

Speaker 7: No.

Tammy Peterman: The Cray center, not only supports clinical care for patients with diabetes, but they also do much more than that. They provide education as well as support for patients about lifestyle. The Cray family provides resources to help us improve the care and the lives of patients and their families.

Steve Stites: What the Cray family has done to support our cancer program, our cardiology program, and the two programs together is nothing short of astonishing. It really does show the same vision they had when they helped start the diabetes program here, but they have been with us for 40 years and that diabetes thing, that's remarkable. And now it's going to be remarkable in cancer and cardiology. Thank you so much.

Susan Robbins: The thing about it is when you have something wealth or whatever, it's your responsibility to make it okay for everybody else.

Cathy Scruggs: The community had been so good to them. They wanted to share and give back and return.

Karen Cray Seaberg: What we really grew up with was parents that expected us to work hard, but give back to where we live. And if we were blessed, we needed to give back. When dad was... Before he died, he and I talked to Dr. Charlie, and said, what are you needing the most in the heart program today?

Charlie Porter: The gift basically was 2 million dollars. And I allocated a fourth of the funds into cardio-oncology. And three-fourths into an area that I've been involved in for 35 years, which is heart failure.

Susan Robbins: My Mom was really... She could feel when people needed things. And I think because she had so many health problems, that was a way that she could give back.

Mellissa Huntington: We're always going to have things to treat and people to treat things, to solve and things to do that way. So I think it is a big part of our family to support healthcare and what it's going to become in the future.

Tammy Peterman: They truly have served as a catalyst for certainly this organization, but they didn't just give us money. They didn't just give us resources. They stayed engaged with us. And I think that has been really, really helpful.

Steve Stites: That family is committed and they're committed to a single ideal to help improve the health of everyone. Not just anyone, everyone, by education, by research and by great clinical care. Man, that's a pretty bold vision. It's the right vision.

Mellissa Huntington: I think my grandparents were way ahead of their time. And I think my grandma, even though she didn't get to see it, even where it is in its entirety today, she would be amazed and very humbled and very honored.

Charlie Porter: A catalyst is something that triggers a chemical reaction, makes something happen. And that is what the Cray's stand for. I think they wanted to put tools in the hands of other people to make good things happen.

Karen Cray Seaberg: We're just so very honored to be part of this family.

Susan Robbins: Our parents would be honored, but of course that's not why they gave.

Cathy Scruggs: And I like to think that they're looking out up there and are aware of it. They would be very proud and excited.