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Auctioneer Sally Reed declares Annie Bayens the winner of a chair.
By Bill Kerans, Memorial Medical Center.
HAMLIN TWP. — Memorial Medical Center volunteers took a major step Sunday toward their promise to fund a new helicopter pad as part of the hospital’s current expansion project. The volunteers held their third annual Art at Rest fundraising auction at Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Ludington, raising a preliminary estimate of nearly $20,000.
The hospital volunteers pledged $125,000 to fund the helipad and a family consult room in the soon-to-be completed new emergency department.
Valerie Berrett, chair of the special projects committee and the auction event, thanked donors and sponsors for helping the group with the project. She said preliminary results show the event topped last year’s net of $18,000. The final accounting is expected to show a net of nearly $20,000 for the auction of Adirondack chairs and “cottage chic” furniture and flower pots, all painted or carved by local artists.
Sally Reed and Jac Russell were the auctioneers for the annual auction, keeping the bidding moving at a brisk pace while entertaining participants with their humorous commentary.
Annie Bayens of Pentwater responds to winning a chair.
Hospital volunteer board president Candy Fabaz definitely did her part to make the group’s fundraising auction a success. She recorded the top bid, $1,000, for a chair, titled Sunflowers, by artist Lauren Ziemba.
Another major donation came from her sister, Annie Bayens of Denver and Pentwater. Bayens engaged in a friendly and spirited round of bidding for a chair by artist Emily Kunsky, titled, ironically, Calm. depicting a seagull on the lakeshore. Bayens won out with a bid of $700, and will place the chair on the porch of her Pentwater home.
Sponsors of the event were Lincoln Hills, Mrs. Zelal and Dr. Nizar Umran, Marilyn’s Style Boutique and Gallery in Pentwater, House of Flavors, Sodexo (hospital food service provider), Beads & Blooms, FloraCraft, and Urka Auto Center.
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