Highland Park Hospital Foundation`s Junior Board threw a Bourbon Street Bash last weekend that had the halls of a local country club jumping with jazz and the board members jumping for joy.
The event, held appropriately on Mother`s Day weekend, put the board over a pledge made in 1990 to raise $250,000 over a five-year period for a birthing center.
Half the center`s $4 million cost was to be covered by philanthropy. And the Junior Board, whose 26 members range in age from late 20s to mid-40s, wanted to do their part. They succeeded beyond expectations.
Partying to a New Orleans beat filled Junior Board coffers to the tune of $75,000, which board members said was more than enough to meet their pledge. And it came two years ahead of schedule.
”We`re going to be able to retire the pledge tonight,” said the very excited Junior Board president, Carol Sigesmund. Sigesmund saw the key to success as ”a lot of hard work” by members and the generosity of friends and community regarding the fundraiser. Last year the party raised nearly $72,000. The organization jumped to its goal with the help of a pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes, autographed by Michael Jordan, that went for $800 and a 1992 ES 300 Lexus at $25,000.
”It (the pledge) was a big undertaking. It was a very big step for us. We were able to do it because the fundraiser has become a popular event,”
Sigesmund said.
But it was more than dollars that drew praise from hospital president Ronald Spaeth. ”They`re unbelievable,” he said of the Junior Board. ”Their spirit is wonderful. When people think of a hospital board, they think of older people in a community. But these members are a lot of young adults. They all have a lot of other things to think about: their kids, careers. But they love the hospital. They`re committed to helping the hospital.”
