As a high-school student participating in the CHOP Summer Volunteer Program, Stephanie Wolfson Cohen covered shifts on the Wawa Coffee and Care Cart, which provides free beverages to patients, families and staff. She had already been involved with CHOP for years — her mom, Nancy Wolfson, was longtime chair of CHOP’s Daisy Days Luncheon and Fashion Show and included Stephanie in the annual event — but taking the Wawa Cart around the Main Building enabled her to observe the inner workings of the hospital firsthand.

Now in her 30s with two children of her own, Stephanie continues to volunteer on the Wawa Cart, among many other activities. She joined CHOP’s Foundation Board of Advisors in 2019, becoming its youngest-ever representative and a third-generation board member — her grandfather, Leonard Abramson, served on the Board of Trustees for 15 years, and her mom served for a decade. Her grandmother, Madlyn Abramson — the driving force behind many of the family’s transformative philanthropic gifts to CHOP — was also closely involved with the hospital.

A founding member of CHOP’s Young Leadership Alliance, Stephanie later joined the 2025 Carousel Ball Committee and the 2026 Cheers for CHOP Committee, through which she helped to coordinate two of CHOP’s highest-profile annual fundraising events.

Stephanie says she likes taking on widely varying volunteer roles because it gives her exposure to so many facets of the organization.

“People think about CHOP as the place to go for the biggest, scariest diagnoses or for major events like emergencies or surgeries,” she says. “We are lucky it’s there for those situations, but also for the run-of-the-mill things, like well visits, ear infections and viruses. They take care of the whole child.”

Becoming a parent has only reinforced Stephanie’s desire to continue volunteering.