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Festival of Trees another success says GPRHF Senior Development Officer

Nov 27, 2018 | 4:04 AM

It is too soon to tally up the final numbers, but Senior Development Officer with the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation says it isn’t too early to call the Festival of Trees 2018 a success. 

“Numbers look much better and higher this year than last year which is all positive. A really good turn out. Lots of people came through general admission,” says Dawn Miller. 

The Holiday Business Luncheon was new this year and Miller says they will be looking to bring it back again next year with another speaker. The gala event was full of excitement with recognition of over $1.75-million given to the GPRHF, $1-million from the Marshall family and $750,000 from CNRL.

“We have been working on those for a while. Unfortunately, Doug Marshall passed away, but it was very nice for his family to be there with us,” she says. 

There was also over $100,000 raised during a live auction and the announcement of a partnership with the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation was made.

“It has been probably been two years since we started our talks about bringing more stollery care to our region. They have agreed to raise $1.5-million towards our Capital Campaign. They have a nice boost to their portion from Ryan Pomeroy and the Pomeroy group of $500,000. All in all, it was really great news for our foundation, our region and healthcare,” she says.

More programs, expertise and resources will be brought to the Grande Prairie area with the partnership. 

The Mistletoe Mixer, Hospital Appreciation Day and Teddy Bear Breakfast were also successful, according to Miller. 

The final amount raised will be announced at a later date.