Bea Fisher is bringing New Orleans to Lloydminster for its celebration fundraiser at the end of the year.
Organizers say it’s not too early as they want people to set the date and plan to be in the Border City to ring in 2023.
The 2019 gala netted $90,000 and went into several renos at their care homes. Marketing & Business Development Coordinator, Kim Crockett, says the funds raised at the first gala covered several projects including a landscaping project which was a bonus given the rains this week. A care home was spared from a flooded basement because of the earlier work.
Bea Fisher assists some 130 clients with developmental disabilities to live their fullest lives. They have some 60 job placements with employers in the city and manage twelve 24-hour care facilities.
Crockett says their goal remains to have three galas to support improvements at their facilities and to better the lives of their clients. The second gala is pegged for new year’s eve which is a Saturday this year.
“We want you to circle the date because year number two is going to be all about New Orleans. And if we can save people the airfare of having to travel all the way to New Orleans; we’re just going to bring it to you and if you need a reason to stay home and see what’s going on here in Lloydminster on new year’s eve, we have got it.”
Given the challenges of the past two years which delayed the second gala, Crockett says they are grateful to their community partners comprising Redhead Equipment, New Lloydminster Nissan, Border City Concrete, Fortune Oilfield Construction, Musgrave Agencies, Speedy Glass, Rusway Construction and Astec Safety for being onboard six-month prior to the event. He adds the band Uptown Entertainment has kept the date circled and has continually been asking when is the second edition.
As the Bea Fisher community looks forward to the second gala the greatest needs remain front and centre says Crockett.
“The care homes themselves; we operate 12. We have been able to tackle some of the key projects in some of those so far. But we do have some big projects yet to go. So that’s really the purpose of bringing on these fundraisers. We need a big home-run to raise the funds we need for some big ticket projects.”
He adds that the long term goal is to raise over a quarter of a million dollars for their upgrades.