The Checkup Winter Newsletter 2019

THE CHECKUP www.northernlightshealthfoundation.ca/donate Winter 2019 2018 FESTIVAL OF TREES ENJOYED BY 8,500 GUESTS! Festival of Trees 2018 was an overwhelming success thanks to over 200 sponsors, 300 volunteers, and 8,500 guests who came together to kick-off the holiday season. The 29 th annual three-day Festival included the Ladies Holiday Luncheon, Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, Festival of Trees Gala, Christmas Family Fun with Santa, Daddy Daughter Sugar Plum Fairy Ball and weekend-long Santa’s Workshop, gift shops, tree viewing and local entertainment. Every event featured new elements to delight guests! A new attraction this year was the gigantic Girls and Boys Toy Boxes created and stuffed full of terrific toys by APE Maintenance. The raffle tickets sales were brisk! Santa and Mrs. Claus made appearances at each event spreading holiday cheer and helped the Fairy Tale characters at Santa’s Workshop and the Daddy Daughter Sugar Plum Fairy Ball. The adults enjoyed the Ladies Holiday Luncheon and the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party leading up to the fabulous Festival of Trees Gala. At the Gala, thirty-three trees were auctioned off with heated bidding amidst laughter and cheer. The room got very quiet when the Fort Mac Hockey Bros tree hit the $50,000 mark and then went wild when our terrific auctioneer Danny Hooper asked both parties if they could each put in that amount and share the tree! Just like that we had a record-breaking $100,000 tree sold to Suncor and Finning Canada. Amazing result and it was just a taste of the generosity that is the hallmark of the Festival of Trees Gala. “We are so grateful to our many sponsors, donors, ticket purchasers, guests and volunteers who supported our Festival of Trees. All of these efforts combined to raise $640,000 after all expenses” said Jessica Lipton, Events Manager of the Health Foundation. “We are really looking forward to bringing some surprises to the 30 th Anniversary Festival of Trees which will be held November 15 th to17 th , 2019. Stay tuned for more information!” Over the past 29 years, the Festival of Trees has raised over $8.5 million (net after all expenses) for local health care, with over 30,000 volunteer hours invested by thousands of community members. Check out all of the festivities HERE