HOULTON, Maine — Eighteen trees, 10 wreaths and one wooden snowman made Houlton Regional Hospital an extremely festive place to visit during the two weeks that the Health Services Foundation Christmas Festival presentations were on display.
“We are absolutely delighted to announce that the Foundation’s first Christmas Festival raised $8,128 in support of current Houlton Regional Hospital medical needs,” said Elizabeth Dulin, Foundation executive director. “We wish to extend to everyone who made a presentation with so much beauty and work put into them our deepest gratitude for such a tremendous outpouring of support for our hospital and made it such a huge success.”
More than 4,000 tickets were sold and the excitement was high when people talked about all the work and beauty that the donors had achieved with their special Christmas works, Dulin noted. Tree No. 19 on display was a wooden tree made by Katahdin Forest Products and was the Foundation’s “Gift Card Tree.”
“Our goal was to have the tree reach $1,000 in gift cards by the end of the event and once again our incredibly generous communities showed us we could do even better than that and topped the North Pole Indicator at $1,306,” Dulin said. “The lucky winner walked away with a great start for their shopping and giving. Six other lucky winners were very surprised when they found out that not only did they win a tree or a wreath but one of the six ‘Secret Surprise’ pieces of jewelry offered. The whole event was just so exciting this year and many of our participants are already planning for next year. We also have two new participants for next year as well, so we look forward to growth and more beauty to be presented in 2017.”
Another highlight for the event was a silent auction which displayed five Santas by designer Karen Didion that were donated by the Sturbridge Yankee Workshop in Portland. An additional big Santa and an Advent box rounded out the offering for this part of the event.
“Proceeds will support Phase II of the Foundation’s current $350,000 campaign to provide 24 pieces of equipment over 12 hospital departments,” Dulin said. “This phase encompasses the emergency room, operating room, cardiac rehab, obstetrics/delivery, physical/occupational therapy and ambulatory surgery. It is the objective of the Foundation to be sure to assist the hospital with their funding requests, and given the rural nature of our communities it is imperative we stay as state-of-the-art as possible so all those needing our services will have them close at hand.”
Anyone wishing more information about the Foundation may do so by calling 207-521-2147, visiting www.healthservicesfoundation.org or Facebook page.
