Races raise mammography money

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Fundraising for Houlton Regional Hospital’s digital mammography campaign was all wet on a recent  Saturday as the Houlton Regional Hospital Auxiliary conducted its “Meduxnekeag River Duck Race.”
    The fundraiser generated about $6,000 for the Auxiliary, which plans to donate those funds to the digital mammography fund for the hospital.
    A collection of more than 600 rubber ducks were poured into the Meduxnekeag River from the Gateway Bridge in downtown Houlton. From there, the first duck to make its way to a finish line at the Highland Avenue boat landing.
THE MEDUXNEKEAG River Duck Race fundraiser generated about $6,000 for the Auxiliary, which plans to donate those funds to the digital mammography fund for the hospital. Janice Kelley and her grandchildren Jada, 4, and Jesse, Pullen, 2, register with Nikki Cullinan, a race volunteer.
    Iva and Ted Sussman of Houlton were in kayaks retrieving the winning ducks, as well as the others that passed by the boat landing.
    Cindy Daigle, chief financial officer at Houlton Regional Hospital, said the event took about three months to plan. Individuals could purchase a rubber duck for a $10 donation. The first four ducks to cross the finish line were declared the winners.
    “Our hope is to keep people local for getting digital mammography exams,” Daigle said. “In the past, people have had to travel, and this will help those people out quite a bit.”
    Ducks were purchased from as far away as Massachusetts, Daigle added.
    “The hospital decided to undertake an internal campaign with its own employees to assist the Health Services Foundation,” Daigle said. “We are hoping to come up with at least $60,000 from the hospital employees. One of the ideas was this race.”
    While the total number of ducks sold fell short of their initial goal of 1,000 ducks, Daigle said she was pleased with the turnout.
    All four prizes were donated to us, so this was a pure profit fundraiser,” Daigle said.
    The winners were as follows: first-prize, an Ipad donated by Berry Dunn, Peter Blood. Second-prize, four Boston Red Sox tickets donated by Patient Advocates, Betty McCormick; third-prize, a flip video camera donated by Kozak and Gayer, Jamieson Romanelli; and fourth-prize, four Boston Red Sox tickets donated by Louis Tiant Jr., Dana Vose.
    “We’re hoping that if this goes well, we will have all the ducks ready to go for a different fundraiser in the future,” Daigle said.