New and improved!

Ken Johnston

It has a new name, a new venue and plenty of new things to enjoy. It is the Rainy River Hospital Auxiliary Centennial Tea and Christmas Concert (formerly the Hosp. Aux. Christmas Bazaar).
Organizer Myrna Armstrong said it was time for a change. Last year the event was noticeably down in attendance and so the Aux. decided to try tweaking the event which has traditionally been one of their largest fund raisers.
The event will be held this Sunday, Dec. 5th, at the Rainy River Community Centre (2nd floor) instead of the Legion. It will begin at 1 p.m. with the penny table, craft table and tuck shop tables being open at that time. Background music will be played by David Singleton, Jacquie Dufresne and Kitty Gale.
Then at 2 p.m. a tea and Christmas concert will be held featuring local entertainers. The Bergland Babes, Ericka Tymkin, Shantelle Davidson, Norma-Jean Johnston, The Masts, John Gosselin, Vaughn Murray and Heidi Ivall will be performing.
After the tea and concert the penny table and door prize winners will be drawn.
Another change this year is there will be no baked goods for sale. “We are having a bakeless bake sale,” said Armstrong. Instead of baking cookies, pies or other Christmas goodies, Aux. members will instead put what they figured it cost them to make the goodies in an envelope and donate that directly to the Auxiliary. “So far the response has been phenomenal,” said Armstrong.
However, for those who absolutely want something homemade and sweet to take home, the Aux. members have been busy baking old fashioned Christmas Puddings. They have been making them to order, but Armstrong said there will be some extras available at the tea/concert.
Each year the Aux. uses the funds it raises to help with amenities for the patients and residents at the Rainy River Health Centre. This year they purchased a pergola for the facility that cost nearly $10,000. They have also purchased a piece of exercise equipment for the Healthy Measures group and soon will have a bird atrium in place for the long term care residents to enjoy.
93 members strong, the Aux. also runs the hospital tuck shop, hosts a strawberry social every spring and sells HELP pull tabs, all to raise money to help improve life at the Rainy River Health Centre.