The Meadow Lake Hospital Foundation is looking to give the gift of good health again this holiday season. And, how it plans to do this is by securing as much financial support as it can via its major fundraiser of the year, the Festival of Trees, which is scheduled to take place this Saturday (Nov. 30) at the Meadow Lake Civic Centre. Cocktails are at 5 p.m., the meal will be served at 6 p.m. with a live auction and dance to follow.
“Ticket sales ended Friday (Nov. 15) and we have more than 200 seats sold, which is the highest attendance has been since before the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Meadow Lake Hospital Foundation chair Scott Campbell. “That’s nice to see. It’s going to be a very good turnout, and the support we receive both from the public and through sponsorship is just overwhelming. We’re already ahead of where we were at this time last year and there’s only more to come. It’s going to be a huge success.” Money raised by the foundation goes toward purchasing much needed equipment for the Meadow Lake Hospital.
“We usually try to raise about $100,000 if we can out of the whole thing,” Campbell said. “We actually just had a meeting last week to hammer out the final details, and we’re already at close to $70,000 and we haven’t even had the function yet. Of course expenses need to come out of that, but we should easily make more than $100,000 with more people coming, more sponsorship and more people bidding on the really nice auction items that will be up for grabs.”
Campbell went on to stress why he feels Festival of Trees is always so well attended and so strongly supported. “Our health care system has been under a lot of scrutiny for several years – probably since COVID – and people realize it’s important to have key hospital equipment in our own community,” he said. “We don’t deal with the lack of nurses or doctors. We deal with equipment. And, if you have the equipment, you need the people to run the equipment. A well-funded hospital is easier to staff than one that is under-funded, in my opinion. We have some of the best equipment in the country, and it makes a huge difference. We’re all going to use the hospital at some point, and the equipment we buy stays in our community. If the Saskatchewan Health Authority buys the equipment, they can always move it to a different hospital. But, the stuff we buy stays here.”
In addition to the Festival of Trees, the foundation is also hosting a waffle breakfast at the Civic Centre Saturday morning. This will also be an opportunity for children and other guests to meet Santa Claus himself. “We will be offering photos with Santa, while the waffle breakfast is $5,” Campbell said. “The nurses will be putting that on, while the Meadow Lake Co-op is sponsoring it.” The breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. and Santa photos run from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. “It’s always very well attended,” Campbell said. “It’s a good draw.”