the broken typewriter

Last weekend’s Be An Angel Gala raised $103,000 for the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation, as part of this year’s fundraising campaign.

This year’s Gala theme was the Roaring 1920s, and Foundation staff with the help of community volunteers transformed the ballroom at the Pomeroy Hotel over two days.

The 296 attendees helped raise funds not only through ticket purchases, but by participating in both a silent and live auctions, thanks to many donations from Fort St. John and area businesses and community members. One stand-out item from the live auction was the “I Remember Quilt” which was created by the Fort St. John Country Quilters Guild. Each year the guild creates a quilt for the Gala, and this year’s quilt was an art deco style piece, in keeping with the theme of the Gala. The winning bid of $21,000 came from the family and friends of Hubert Baumeister, whose name will be embroidered on the quilt.

In addition to the flapper era décor, several Christmas trees were located throughout the ballroom, some of them festooned with wooden angel ornaments created for the Hospital Foundation by students at Dr. Kearney Middle School. Mr. Barranti’s woodwork class dado cut the wooden ornaments, and they were painted by students in Ms. Gould and Mrs. Petryshn’s art classes.

“So many volunteers helped with this event,” said Kelly Amboe, Fort St. John Hospital Foundation’s executive director. “It would not have been possible without the volunteers.”

The commitment, generosity, philanthropy, and dedication of volunteers was recognized when Home Hardware’s Doug and Shelley Gallinger were awarded the prestigious Janet Taylor Award for their long-standing support of the Foundation and its mission.

Among the sponsors and contributors were Breanna Burns, who donated the champagne tower; Be an Angel pins sponsored by Pomeroy & Gentles Barristers and Solicitors; the wine was sponsored by Jim and Margaret Little, and Wyatt and Twila Soule; a gold bar for the 50/50 raffle was donated by Smith Fuel Services – and won by Dr. Stephan van Deventer; and Clarke Oakley brought his 1923 Ford Model T Coupe to display in the lobby of the Pomeroy.

The next events in the Be An Angel campaign are the Angel Trees, which will be set up in the Totem Mall on November 12, and the Light a Moose Radiothon which takes place November 15-17 and aims to raise $175,000 towards the purchase of a Phillips Epiq Elite Ultrasound machine for the hospital’s medical imaging department.