The Dellingers’ Story

Pati and Roger Dellinger are deeply philanthropic people who believe in giving back to their community. For Pati it was a lesson instilled by her parents that she carries with her to this day.

A legacy of service

“It didn’t matter if you only had $5 to your name; if somebody needed a dollar, you gave it to them. That’s just the kind of people that my mom and dad were, and that’s how I was raised.” – Pati Dellinger

Pati and her husband, Roger, enjoy making an impact on the community around them. Both active volunteers, their lives and relationship are committed to giving of their time and money to the causes important to them.

In 2023, Pati began working as an Auxiliary volunteer at the Helen K. Spears Cancer Center in Grants Pass. Like so many of us, Pati’s life has been touched by cancer—she watched her brother fight lung cancer and lost her mom to cancer. When she started giving her time to the Spears Cancer Center, she felt so much warmth and kindness from the staff that she wanted to be part of making people feel better.

“The patients are very grateful for the care they get here. And I feel like I’m helping make their day a little better by giving them a snack or opening the door for them or showing them to the infusion center. I see it directly when patients are leaving the cancer center with a smile. Sometimes they have a bag of groceries from the food pantry, or they’re just happy that their treatment went well, and everybody was smiling and happy for them. This may be one of the hardest things they’re going through in their life, yet they’re happy to be here and surrounded by people who care for them.”

Pati and Roger decided to make a legacy gift to Asante Foundation because they wanted to feel that they were continuing to help people even after they are gone.

“We want our legacy to be about helping others. By leaving a bequest to Asante Foundation, we can help the community receive quality medical care.”

Pati and Roger committed their contribution to support the linear accelerator and cancer compassion funds at Spears Cancer Center. Additionally, they made their gift in honor of Pati’s mother, Mary Magee Buckholz, and naming the Patient Education Room for her.

“It’s nice to put her name on something that is welcoming to patients. She had such a struggle with her illness and my time at Spears has shown me that fighting cancer can be something different.”