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A dream-like evening at the Festival of Trees Gala
January 1, 2016
(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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