An Instance of Build First and Raise the Funds Later
Talk about confidence!
First they built a $250,000 microvascular surgery laboratory, then they held a fund-raiser to pay for it. That’s how the WestMed Gold Club handled it.
But with a tradition like the club’s 11th FUND$Y (Funds $erving You) benefit Saturday, confidence comes easy. In its first decade, FUND$Y generated more than $1 million for the nonprofit Western Medical centers in Santa Ana and Anaheim, according to Betty Belden-Palmer, a member of its board of directors.
This year the club added another $160,000 for the lab, which will open in a few weeks, according to Wayne Schroeder, executive director of Western Medical Center, Santa Ana. The facility will be used to train doctors for such delicate surgery as limb reattachments and organ transplants.
“We have the lab,” said Dennis Blanchard, event co-chair. “Now we have to pay for it!”
About 650 guests chipped in $175 each for admission, then reached for their wallets again and again during silent and live auctions that featured more than 300 items.
As always, the event was staged in a huge tent erected in the Santa Ana hospital’s parking lot. “This was the third year in a row that we’ve sold out and had to turn people away,” co-chair Corinne Brewster said.
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