This time of year—given great weather, great causes, and plenty of need, Eastern Plumas County has a fun fundraising event almost every weekend. Community members—with their numbers seemingly doubled by the return of “snowbirds” and the onslaught of tourists—come out in strong support of their favorite events and in turn are treated to a fun game of golf or great music, good food and drink, and unique, often handmade auction fare. Eastern Plumas Health Care joined the party, as it does every year, with its one big annual fundraiser—their “Swing Fore Eastern Plumas Health Care” golf tournament, held for a second year at Nakoma’s Golf Resort. This year, proceeds go towards EPHC’s new ambulance. The tournament raised $28,000 which, combined with other donations, means that EPHC can afford this essential lifesaving piece of equipment without taking out a loan.
The golf tournament is the hospital Foundation’s baby—with Virginia Luhring at the forefront of that group for many years now. Foundation members spend untold hours organizing this event and working to get a full field of golfers. An outstanding feature of this fundraiser is that many hospital employees volunteer their time to make this a fun and financially successful event. Lisa Terry, Business Office Supervisor, has brought her daughters Tara and Trinity to help at this and many other events for so many years now, the community has watched them grow up giving their time to help others.
In addition, Executive Administrative Assistant Tiffany Williams and CFO Jeri Nelson give lots of time and effort to make this event go smoothly. And, this year, Victoria Cook and Pam Cummings did an astounding job of creating boutique style baskets, prize filled balloons, and more. They also dispensed thirty champagne glasses, purchased for $20 each, containing cubic zirconium “diamonds” – except that one special glass held a $3,500 diamond. There were two identical bags—one of which held rocks, while the other was filled with $700 worth of gift certificates. Foundation President Luhring won the pricey $700 bag, and her reaction was priceless. Cummings also brought in an auctioneer friend who paid her own plane fare to attend this event and drum up support, while adding some spice and laughter to the proceedings.
While not unique to this area, the level of support in such a small, rural community is unusual. It is a credit to community members that they realize essential organizations like this hospital can’t survive and thrive without their support.