Gala Night at Festival of Trees is a chance to have a good time, an enjoyable dinner, and great company, all the while helping the community offer better healthcare.

Tickets are on sale now for Gala Night, Saturday, December 14. The cost of the tickets are $35. Tickets can be purchased online at www.fryhealthcarefoundation.org or at the Boundary Community Hospital. Gala Night is the grand finale of Fry Healthcare Foundation’s year-long effort to raise funds for the local hospital, Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry.

“Gala Night of the Festival of Trees is a lot of fun,” said Marcia Morman, Boundary Community Hospital’s Community Relations Coordinator. “The Festival of Trees was started 18 years ago, and over the course of the years, many community members have invested days, weeks, and months of their lives to give this gift to the community. It is a tremendous pooling of everyone’s time and abilities resulting in an enchanting, enjoyable evening with a humbling outcome - the witnessing of the extreme generosity of citizens of our community.”

That tradition continues.

Businesses and individuals have elected to be sponsors, contributing substantial donations to the cause. Other people are purchasing decorations and investing their time decorating gorgeous Christmas trees to be auctioned on Gala night.  Many, many community members and businesses have donated items for the auction, such as paintings, wool blankets, wreaths, stockings, centerpieces, hand-made wooden furniture, tickets to a SeaHawks game, tickets to a Boise University Broncos game, and a whole lot more.

Now all that is needed is for you to come and enjoy it!

In addition to the live auction, there is a silent auction, envelope quest (where everyone participating wins a prize), a dinner catered by the Kootenai River Inn and other events.

Funds raised this year will go towards the purchase of a 15-passenger, wheelchair accessible van to replace the 14 year old van purchased by the Fry Healthcare Foundation in 1999. A reliable van is necessary for patients at Boundary Community Hospital when transportation is needed back and forth from Coeur d’Alene and Spokane. The van will also be the means for the Extended Care Facility residents to attend physician appointments and social outings.

The Festival of Trees is held in the Memorial Hall at the Fairgrounds. Doors open at 5 p.m., the buffet dinner will be served from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and the auction begins at 7 p.m. Sponsorships are still being accepted.

To find out more, call(208) 267-6912.