20th Healthy Futures dinner set for Saturday

Published 9:28 am Monday, November 9, 2015

The Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation is celebrating its 20th Healthy Futures Dinner Auction on Saturday at Cloverleaf Hall, 668 NW 1st St., in Enterprise. The proceeds from the popular dinner auction are used to buy much needed equipment for Wallowa Memorial Hospital.

Foundation director Stacy Green said this year’s event features a catered dinner, no-host bar, catered dinner and both live and silent auctions.

“As far as I’m aware, this was the first event of its kind in the county,” Green said. “Now there’s a million of them. In 1996, the first year, it raised over $19,000, which is quite a bit.”

Green said the 2014 auction grossed $71,000, but the challenges of fundraising accumulate as competition with other fundraising dinners increases.

The major purpose for the auction proceeds this year is to purchase a state-of-the-art bone-density system that is essential for diagnosing osteoporosis in both women and men and costs over $50,000. Past foundation purchases of equipment for the hospital include an advanced life-support ambulance and a digital mammography machine.

Saturday’s cocktail and social hour begins at 5 p.m., as does the silent auction, with the catered dinner and the live entertainment starting at 6:30 p.m. and the live auction at 7:30 p.m. Matt Kurtz will emcee the event and Jake Musser will provide auctioneering services. Carolyn Lochert and Gail Swart will provide entertainment.

The auction is offering a number of items up for live and silent bid, including: Wildhorse Resort weekend golf getaway, a half-day guided fishing trip from Winding Waters River Expeditions and a one-year pass for two to OK Theatre concerts.

As of the Monday afternoon, tickets were still available at a price of $60. Checks should be made out to WWVHCF and either dropped off at the Wallowa Memorial Hospital front desk, or slid underneath the WWVHCF door at the hospital.