HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – It started with one woman: the late Bernie Mathes. Before the Blue Ridge Clinic opened in 2021, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Free Clinic provided care to people without access to traditional healthcare.

Many of these patients, in addition to medical problems, faced barriers to transportation or food. When Mathes, a volunteer social worker for the clinic, heard about these obstacles, she stepped in to help. She reached into her large red purse, pulled out a $10 bill and handed it to her patient. Her acts of kindness often helped patients with gas to get to the pharmacy, so they could get the medicine they needed.

When her volunteer co-workers realized what she was doing, they called it “Bernie’s Purse.” Each year the clinic would collect donations for a fund to help with the “small” barriers that patients face every day.

Bernie died in 2012 and the clinic closed in 2020. The Blue Ridge Free Clinic (BRFC), a separate clinic, opened a year later with many of the same volunteers in charge.

“We wanted to honor her by always remembering her memory. That was one of the things we took with us from the old free clinic here,” said BRFC Director Susan Adamson. “We just knew we wanted to continue ‘Bernie’s Purse.’ “

With the help of an anonymous donor, The Community Foundation has established the “Bernie’s Purse” fund. The fund will help BRFC continue to serve vulnerable community members with the care they need, without placing an equal emphasis on fundraising.

If patients need $5 or $10 for immediate needs, the donation will help them overcome life’s daily barriers that can often prevent people from getting the care they need. That money will go towards expenses such as petrol money and co-payments for medicines that the clinic does not offer.

Adamson said the donation will be a sustainable source that can serve people for years to come. She worked as a volunteer nurse for HRFC for 22 years and with Bernie. She said it has been an honor to continue her legacy at the new clinic.

“It’s just been one of those things that touches the hearts of the volunteers who are here and the patients who benefit from it. They just can’t believe it. They often just get teary-eyed when they recognize it.” Adamson said. “(We’re) just people who want to help them with no application process. The patient had a flat tire (and) they can’t afford it — we’ll pull the money and they just go fix the tire. Things like that, you can not do in a non-voluntary organization.”

If you would like to donate to the “Bernie’s Purse” fund, you can do so through Samhällsstiftelsen’s website.

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