New fundraisers to replace Extravaganza
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The Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital Volunteer Association is looking at new ways to fundraise.
Since the demise of the annual and popular Extravaganza event, the TDMH Volunteer Association needed to come up with alternative fundraising ideas to replace the much-loved event, held for close to 40 years every fall in Tillsonburg.
The volunteer association will hold their first of several fundraising events this April.
“We are looking for a number of different things to replace Extravaganza, and this is one of them,” said John Haldane, president of the TDMH Volunteer Association. “This is a gourmet dinner and food tasting event – we’re partnering with Sunset Gourmet Foods.”
Sunset Gourmet Food Company is a home-based business that sells a variety of products through independent consultants, hosting taste testing parties or a booth at an event or trade show. Sunset Gourmet products include spices and seasonings, dips, condiments, sauces and spreads, among others items.
“We’re partnering with them and using their products in the meal wherever possible and having samples available to the dinner guests. We will have representatives of Sunset Gourmet on site and they will take orders after dinner.”
The TDMH Volunteer Association fundraising event is called ‘Temptations’ and will include a dinner, silent auction and other fun activities throughout the evening. It takes place on Thursday, April 11 at the Tillsonburg Soccer Clubhouse, beginning at 5:30 p.m. for a mix and mingle, followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 each.
“Everybody knew about it (Extravaganza) – it was a great fundraiser for us,” added Haldane. “One of the other things we’re hoping to do is to have smaller, similar events. We’ve got someone who’s trying to organize an Extravaganza-like furniture sale right now and we’re hoping to have other conveyors from Extravaganza come forward to run their own event in their own venue, like clothing for example or sporting goods – so we could have a number of one-off events.”
Haldane noted the important role Extravaganza played in raising much-needed funds for capital equipment used by the TDMH.
“Every penny that we make goes directly to the hospital. We try and sponsor a piece of capital equipment or several pieces, depending on what it is. Two years ago, we pledged $100,000 dollars to the digital mammography campaign. This year, that’s ending at the end of March, we’ll give hopefully around $80,000 to support SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) telemetry monitoring equipment – it’s all capital equipment for the hospital that we support.”
Despite some big shoes to fill, Haldane is optimistic about the success of the anticipated smaller fundraising events this coming year.
“We’re hopeful – it’s going to be a struggle to replace $35-40,000 from that one event. It might take us a couple of years to get back to that level, but that’s our goal.”
For tickets to Temptations in April, call the TDMH Volunteer Association at (519) 842-3611 ext. 5295.