The Foundation’s 2024 Gala Brings in a Record Breaking $70,000! By Foundation
By Foundation Senior Director, Al Garver
Hamilton, MT On Friday evening, August 2nd, the front lawn of the Daly Mansion hosted the annual Bitterroot Health Foundation Gala. More than 200 guests arrived in spite of the 100-degree heat, including local businesses, donors, and hospital employees.
A manpower intensive event, the Gala utilized 62 volunteers for set up, decorations, service during the event and tear-down the day after. The vast majority of volunteers were Bitterroot Health employees, but non-employees and a crew from the Trapper Peak Job Corps also pitched in.
Each guest was welcomed by the pink-frocked volunteers of the Bitterroot Health Auxiliary, receiving a flute of champagne (or sparkling cider) with a chocolate-dipped strawberry before being escorted to their table. Dinner consisted of four delicious courses, all catered by The Crave, and premium drinks were served by Marley’s. After dessert, Bitterroot Health CEO John Bishop shared some of astonishing successes over the past year.
The guests of honor for the evening were Rob & Terry Ryan, who have been major donors to the hospital for more than 20 years. Al Garver, Senior Director of the Bitterroot Health Foundation, estimated the Ryans have gifted between $250,000 and $1,000,000, but the current donor software only shows the $250,000 over the past nine years. “We know Rob & Terry have given much more, and one doctor told us one of their first gifts was purchasing new beds/gurneys for the emergency room, and that was about twenty years ago.
Terry Ryan was invited to speak to the audience, and she began by telling an amusing story about their first visit to the emergency room in the late 1990s. She related there were no separate rooms then, just curtains separating three beds. She then told of the hospital’s growth and changes over the past 25 years that now includes a new medical-surgical wing, a cancer-infusion center, a cardiac center, and new clinics in Stevensville and Darby. She finished with an exhortation to the audience to give and continue to invest in the hospital system.
After a rousing round of applause for her remarks, Terry took her seat as the paddle auction began. Al Garver informed the audience that Rob & Terry Ryan provide $25,000 each year for the paddle auction match, including this year. He then related the foundation’s goal was to raise $70,000 to purchase a state-of-the-art medical scanning system that includes a new foldaway computer workstation in each of the eleven rooms in the Emergency Department. The system shows the medical chart on the workstation screen and patient wristbands and medications are scanned to ensure they are getting the right medication and the right dose.
The paddle auction raised $42,640 above the Ryans’ $25,000, and another $2,000 was raised from a single live-auction item. Several additional cash donations brought the tally to over $70,000, meeting the foundation’s net fundraising goal for the evening.
The Gala concluded with a one-hour performance of an eight-piece swing jazz ensemble from Billings. J.K. and Friends played standards including Glenn Miller’s In The Mood and Tommy Dorsey’s Sing, Sing, Sing.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
4609: Bitterroot Health employees made up the majority of 62 volunteers for the 2024 Gala. The registration crew included Nate Fuge, Jen Gariepy, Chelsea Gollihugh, Steven Harrod, Jackie Dickenson and Rhonda King. Photo by Dara Kilian.
4626: Guests begin arriving at the 2024 Bitterroot Health Foundation Gala at the Daly Mansion. The event was sold out with 200 guests. Photo by Dara Kilian.
