Paula Shell
Paula Shell Administrative Supervisor, Women’s and Children’s Health – Children’s Center
Paula Shell has been part of DAR since 1983, when she started in a temporary position. Over the years, she has seen DAR go from typewriters to desktop computers to laptops. Paula’s experience and institutional knowledge helps her share information and processes with new colleagues. She also reviews past donor information to identify which relationships to revive.
Located at the 750 E. Pratt Street building in Baltimore, she spends her days producing financial reports, assisting with relationship management activities, and monitoring grant activity.
What brought you to Johns Hopkins?
I was a temporary employee at the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine (FJHM), first assisting with a portrait solicitation mailing. Then I moved to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center (JHCC) Development Office and worked on the Helen B. Taussig, MD, Portrait Dedication and the very first JHCC Children’s Miracle Network Telethon.
How did you get into the development and alumni relations field?
I would help my sister, Lydia Gallant-Britton (who retired from DAR in 2016), with what is now called the Association of Fundraising Professionals mailings after work hours. This afforded me the opportunity to learn a different type of business from the claims adjuster position I had at a local insurance company.
What do you like most about your work?
I have had the opportunity to meet some of the best colleagues, faculty, and donors at Johns Hopkins, and I have enjoyed staying in touch with several who have moved on. The current Women’s and Children’s Health team is an amazing group of colleagues that I enjoy working with.
When JHCC began their affiliation with the Children’s Miracle Network, I assisted with the logistics of the annual telethon starting with the first in 1984 and ending in 2006. There were many details to handle, and I enjoyed being on the team working with WMAR-TV.
A MIX 106.5 DJ, without our advance knowledge, sat on a billboard for 106 straight hours encouraging listeners to make a pledge in 1989. Soon after, Radiothon was established. Still today, the volunteers are genuine and some are a little quirky, but it is an annual reunion that no one wants to miss. Our team sets the bar higher each year and the amazing sense of comradery and accomplishment makes my heart swell!
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I began college when my youngest started middle school. It was not an easy feat as I was also raising six children. I attended several undergraduate classes at JHU and then transferred to the Community College of Baltimore County. I earned my associate’s degree in 2013.
What do you like to do when you are not working?
I love spending time with my grandchildren. My husband and I just welcomed identical twin grandsons, bringing our total to nine grandchildren. We take them on adventures, do crafts, and play board games.
Please share something we don’t know about you.
When I started at FJHM, each employee had an electric typewriter, and there were two memory typewriters that we shared. When we transitioned to desktop computers, the system and printer were so large that they took up the entire top of my desk. Thank goodness we all now have laptops!
I was eager to learn the new system JHAS and all the improvements it would offer to make our development world better. However, I have to laugh when I hear colleagues say that ALADIN was outdated because I remember FRIS, the prior system, which belonged in the Stone Age!