(Note: We are including
several photographs of the Festival of Tress
Gala Evening, located at the end of this
article).
 The
Festival of Trees Gala Event, sponsored by the
Fry Healthcare Foundation, has now run for its
20th year. Gala #20, whose theme was
Joy to the World, held on December 12, was
a fun evening with great food, brilliant
Christmas decorations, informative conversation,
and strategic bidding for items donated to help
raise funds for needed equipment at Boundary
Community Hospital. Many of the items up
for bid were painstakingly handmade, including
detailed decorated Christmas trees, wreaths,
baskets, and other items that undoubtedly
required a lot of creativity and originality and
many hours of work to prepare for the auction
parts of the Gala.
Individuals and businesses from throughout the
Boundary County community donated these items,
all to help raise funds the Fry Healthcare
Foundation uses to help purchase needed
equipment for the hospital.
A major goal for this year's Gala was to obtain
funding toward the purchase of an ultrasound
machine for the hospital's Emergency Department.
According to Craig Johnson, CEO of Boundary
Community Hospital, such a machine "brings
state-of-the-art technology right into our
emergency room and will provide our Emergency
physicians witih advanced diagnostic
capabilities to better serve our patients."
During the Gala evening, lit with Christmas
lighting at the Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall,
attendees could enjoy a catered dinner of
various salads, side dishes, and meat entrees,
while bidding for impressive items up for
auction. A listing of some of the items up
for bid:
T
Fleece Blanket
T
Cross-stitch Picture
T
Ski and Lift Passes
T
Wreaths, including a barbed-wire folk art
wreath, and a wreath decorated with jewelry
T
Round Trip airline tickets to anywhere in
the world where Alaska Airlines flies
T
Tickets at the 20 yard line for a Seattle
Seahawks home football game
T
Several fully-decorated, beautiful,
custom-designed Christmas trees
T
And much more
In fact, 46 items were
listed in the program as being up for bid in the
Silent Auction and the Live Auction.
Prior to the Gala evening,
Mr. Johnson had commented on the dedicated
financial support raised by the Fry Healthcare
Foundation. "I thank you for your
continued support of the Fry Healthcare
Foundation and Boundary Community Hospital.
Your support has provided more than $1 million
dollars to our hospital over the past 19 years,"
he said.
If you have never been to a Festival of Trees
Gala before, plan now to be there for #21,
coming our way this December.
We now present several photographs taken the
evening of the Festival of Trees Gala event:
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