Mosher Foundation Gift Marks $25 Million Milestone for Cottage Campaign

August 18, 2005    A $1,000,000 gift from The Samuel B. and Margaret C. Mosher Foundation has helped The Campaign for Cottage Health System reach the quarter-mark toward its $100-million goal for rebuilding the new Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

"We are delighted to be able to support this critical investment in the health of our community now and for generations to come," said Edward E. Birch, PhD, president and CEO of the Mosher Foundation's board of directors. "We are keenly aware of the need for philanthropic support for this major rebuilding program at Cottage, one of our region's most important not-for-profit organizations."

In recognition of the significant support from the Mosher Foundation, the Pediatric Intensive Care unit in the new Cottage Children's Hospital wing of the hospital will be named in its honor.

The Mosher Foundation was created by the late Samuel B. Mosher, founder of the Signal Oil Company and chairman of the Flying Tiger Line. Margaret Mosher, who died in 2002, was a successful business executive in her own right, serving as president of the Mosher Foundation, Dos Pueblos Orchid Company, and Perry Investment Company. Throughout the years, both the Moshers and their foundation have been major benefactors of Santa Barbara philanthropic charities, concentrating on health and medical organizations, the arts and education.

The $500+ million replacement of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, which was approved by the City of Santa Barbara in April, is an eight-year phased construction program that will allow the hospital to meet strict new seismic requirements set for all hospitals in California. The requirement comes with a state-mandated completion deadline of 2013, but includes no local, state, or federal funding. The project at Cottage, now entering its first phase with construction of a new Energy Center at Junipero and Bath Streets, will be paid for through operating reserves, a tax-exempt bond issue, SBCH Foundation assets, and the $100 million Campaign for Cottage Health System.

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