Good Shepherd Cancer Center employees, hospital administration and representatives from Harley Swain Subaru celebrate the donation of 80 blankets by Harley Swain Subaru to the cancer center on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Hermiston.

HERMISTON — The Good Shepherd Cancer Center is accustomed to providing care to those in need, but on Tuesday, Aug. 8, the center received a little TLC of its own when Harley Swain Subaru donated 80 blankets for patients.

“It’s not so much the blankets we give out,” said Dawn Mathis, of Harley Swain Subaru, to those who work in the center, “it’s the work and care you provide that matters so much.”

The donation is part of the car company’s corporate office “Subaru Loves to Care” program.

Mathis said each quarter, the company holds a Care event, which often benefits hospitals but also schools and other organizations.

Subaru dealers nationwide have donated nearly 300,000 blankets to cancer patients since 2016.

Future events will benefit Stanfield elementary students, and in October Hermiston’s Pet Rescue will be a beneficiary.

“We’ll be paying for all pet adoptions at Pet Rescue for one day,” Mathis said. The date will be announced in the future.

Mathis has driven all over the Pacific Northwest donating blankets to cancer centers and was thrilled to be able to work with Good Shepherd.

“I was born in Hermiston and it’s such an honor to be donating blankets to Good Shepherd,” she said. “It means so much to the community to have a cancer center here for patients.”

Dr. Stephen Iacoboni, director of the Good Shepherd Cancer Center, welcomed the donation and said the cancer center has been a critical addition to the hospital.

“It’s challenging starting a sub-speciality care practice,” he said. “When I came here, there wasn’t a cancer center at Good Shepherd. The habit was to send patients to large cancer centers. Since we’ve opened the cancer center a few years ago, we’ve been very warmly embraced by the community.”

Registered Nurse Manager Susan Stephens was grateful for the donation.

“It means the world to our patients to receive the blankets,” she said. “We’ll be using them every day.”