Longtime volunteers (from L to R) Barbara Smith, Ruth Sve, Margaret Johnson, Jean O-Dell and Betty Broughton, who has given more than 32,000 hours of her time to the volunteer program.
Volunteer culture is strong at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. More than 900 individuals, identifiable by their trademark blue jackets, help their community by collectively contributing more than 115,000 hours of service each year to Torrance Memorial. Most adult volunteers choose to join the Volunteer Auxiliary, an independent nonprofit that provides programming and raises funds for the hospital—the same way a PTA supports its school.
The Volunteer Auxiliary celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. “Volunteering has been part of Torrance Memorial from the start,” says recently retired director of volunteer services, Mary Matson. “In 1951, 25 years after the hospital’s founding, six volunteers chose to formalize the Auxiliary, which exists to support the medical center.”
The Volunteer Auxiliary owns and operates the Gift Shop in Lundquist Tower. All Gift Shop profits, along with bake sale proceeds and membership dues, benefit patient services. Matson notes that over the years, the group has raised more than $8 million. In 2014, the Healing Garden was named in honor of the Volunteer Auxiliary.
In January 2026 the Torrance Memorial Auxiliary presented Torrance Memorial Medical Center with a check for $245,000. L to R: Torrance Memorial Health CEO Keith Hobbs, Mark Lurie, MD, Torrance Memorial Foundation Executive Vice President Laura Schenasi, Tina Trudnowski, Melinda Richmond, Chief Nursing Officer Mary Wright, Michelle Di Marco.
Volunteers help in settings including the information desk in the Grand Lobby, the surgery department waiting room and patient rooms, where they may drop by to offer snacks or company. Volunteer escorts take patients to various departments, Clowns on Rounds bring smiles to patients, and dogs and their owners provide canine comfort through the Pet Visitation Program.
Betty Broughton began volunteering in 1994 and has given more than 32,500 hours of her time. She started soon after retiring from Hughes at the suggestion of her daughter, Dianna
Tyndall, clerical manager in the radiology department. She has served as president of the Volunteer Auxiliary three times and held many other roles, including secretary, treasurer and gift shop co-chair.
Today, the 87-year-old volunteers three times a week, including one day in surgical admitting. “I enjoy being with people,” she says. “And especially in surgery, patients may be scared and I try to calm their nerves.”
A self-described morning person, Broughton works the 5 to 9 a.m. shift. “I’ve met some wonderful people and made great friends over the years,” she says. “This is a wonderful place to work.”
In 1989, Judy Sipes proposed forming the Luminaries, a service group where mothers and their teenage children volunteer together. Luminaries help on-site and raise funds through special events. The group donated $15,000 in its first year and has raised more than half a million dollars since its founding.
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Early days of the Auxiliary.
Children of active Luminaries join NOVAs, a high school volunteer program. They serve as patient escorts, help at special events, decorate the pediatrics ward, and make tray favors and blankets for patients, among other activities.
“There’s now a waitlist to join the NOVAs,” Sipes notes. “It’s moving for me to see how the program has continued all these years.”
She volunteers in the gift shop on Monday mornings and is the shop’s handbag and jewelry buyer. “The hospital has been my home. I’ve had so much fun and gained as much as I have given,” says Sipes, who has attended conventions for hospital volunteers and was surprised to learn how many hospitals struggle to recruit volunteers while Torrance Memorial’s volunteer program flourishes.
“The Volunteer Auxiliary is a thriving entity and partner to Torrance Memorial,” says Matson. “It would not be the same without them.”
Following Matson’s retirement in November 2025, longtime Torrance Memorial staff member Kimberly Flores has stepped in as the new director of volunteer services and is leading the auxiliary into its 75th year and beyond.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities visit TorranceMemorial.org/volunteer.
