SMC Foundation puts on successful Summer Wine event
Photo by PATTI HEI The winning bidders from the Shoshone Medical Center Foundation’s Summer Wine event. These drawings were done by local artist Gerald Hollenbeck. Pictured (from the left) are Dr. David Lawhorn, Hollenbeck, Rhonda Seagraves, Eric Seagraves, Jerry Brantz, Treca Brantz, Tara Lodi, Jerry Hagaman and Michelle Wood.
PINEHURST — The Shoshone Medical Center Foundation’s Summer Wine event once again demonstrated the generosity of the local community as they happily bid on items with the intention of benefiting their hospital and surrounding community.
The event did well enough for the foundation that it will be able to buy some much-needed equipment for SMC and their various facilities.
“We raised thousands of dollars to use towards the needs of the community which include an accuvein (a vein finding machine) for the hospital and new equipment at the wellness center,” foundation coordinator Sarah Murphy said. “We also were able to fund continuous education scholarships (the Joan Head scholarship) for hospital staff. We also use some of the money to help offset public transit cost each year by donating $2,500.”
There were many items up for auction, but the main attractions were the charcoal drawings of former hospitals from throughout the Silver Valley’s history.
Each drawing was done by local artist Gerald (Gerry) Hollenbeck, who poured a lot of time and effort into each drawing.
The winning bids for the drawings went for between $250 and $900 each and it was the personal connections that bidders had with each specific drawing that made the auction so interesting.
“All of the winning bidders were very pleased with their purchases,” Murphy said. “Each had a unique story as to why their heartstrings were tugged at and being drawn to a certain drawing. The bidding war was fierce and hilarious for a couple of the more popular drawings and Gerry was grinning from ear to ear all night.”
The Summer Wine event had historically been hosted at the Silver Mountain base for quite some time before it was moved to the SMC outreach center in Pinehurst, which has presented some struggles; but the event has continued to power on to be the foundation’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
“The event is definitely limited by space at the Pinehurst building,” Murphy said. “When the event was at Silver Mountain, it was a 200-plus person event. This year we were sold out at 112 people three weeks before the event. Which speaks to the love of the event by supporters. Even still, we manage to draw the people who really want to support the foundation and in turn the hospital. And we still raise several thousands of dollars toward our cause.”