Come one, come all, to La Place Rendez-Vous this Sunday to help support health care at La Verendrye General Hospital (LVGH) with a fun afternoon of socializing and bidding up a storm.
The La Verendrye General Hospital Auxiliary is hosting the Spirit of Christmas Silent Auction on Sunday, November 27, 2022, beginning at 2:00 p.m. in the upstairs ballroom at La Place Rendez-Vous. The event will feature silent auction items donated by local businesses, crafters and individuals, as well as a penny table, snacks and refreshments, and a fun time for all.
Diane Glowasky is co-chairing the event alongside Linda Booth, whom she said is a powerhouse of an organizer, and explained the Spirit of Christmas event will be a wonderful afternoon of fun and friends.
“People will come upstairs and pay $6 for a ticket for entrance and to be put into a draw for a door prize,” Glowasky said.
“There will be a penny table set up, and silent auction items around the ballroom. We will have coffee, tea and hot chocolate available, and a Christmas cheesecake dessert.”
Glowasky said the event has collected a wide variety of different items to be bid upon, and hopes that the camaraderie of being together will help to push some bids up ever higher.
“Some people have a lot of fun when it comes to certain items,” she said.
“They’ll say ‘I want that one’ and then will keep bidding on it.”
In addition to the silent auction, Glowasky said the Spirit of Christmas event will also have pull-tab tickets available for purchase
Of course, all of the money that is raised through the various fun activities planned for Sunday are going towards the cause the LVGH Auxiliary has always supported; namely, helping to purchase new equipment for staff and patients at La Verendrye.
“All of the money, every cent we raise as the Auxiliary goes to purchase equipment and stays in our hospital,” Glowasky said.
“Right now we are working towards purchasing six infusion pumps, each valued at $30,000, for the hospital.”
This is the first Spirit of Christmas event to be held since 2018, due to the COVID -19 pandemic, but the event has been a longtime fixture in Fort Frances. According to information provided by the Auxiliary, the Spirit of Christmas began in 1994 when Susan Cousineau hosted a small social gathering in her home to support the fight against cancer. After the night raised a respectable $700, the group decided the event must become an annual occurrence, and the Spirit of Christmas was born. From there, it grew in popularity and scale, eventually hosting more than 300 guests and raising over $18,000.
The LVGH Auxiliary is only the latest in a long line of local organizations to host the Spirit of Christmas, with past events being thrown by the Fort Frances Community Chest and the Breast Health Network. The LVGH Auxiliary has announced they plan to host the Spirit of Christmas every second year.
Glowasky invited the public to come out to the Spirit of Christmas on Sunday, noting that not only is it in support of a good cause, but it is also an opportunity to make up for the social interactions and fun we have all been missing in the wake of COVID.
Admission for the Spirit of Christmas is $6, and cash, credit and debit are accepted for the Silent Auction.