The Mercy Health Foundation Berryville marked its 20th annual Charity Ball with a black and white affair Feb. 17 that raised about $100,000 toward a new $2 million MRI machine to be shared by Mercy facilities in Carroll County.
Doctors and dignitaries, staff and supporters gathered for a lively social hour at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center in Eureka Springs, followed by a formal program that included the presentation of the Community Ambassador Award to Janell Robertson of the Carroll County Community Foundation.
There was also an open appeal for donations and a “Top Hats and Tiaras” game similar to “heads or tails.” Heads or tails is a fundraising game of chance where participants pay to play and then compete to guess whether a coin flip will result in heads or tails. This keeps going until one person remains standing. On Saturday night, Toby Wildeman, wife of Mercy’s vice president of patient services Jason Wildeman, was the last one standing and received several boxed gifts.
Mercy Berrryville hospital administrator Darren Caldwell, bedecked in a gold bowtie and cummerbund, served as master of ceremonies.
The Marcy Health Foundation’s goal, he said, is to provide the residents of Carroll County “health care that is comparable to what you can get at any other facility of any size.”
Last year, the charity ball raised $78,000 for patient monitoring equipment. In previous years, the event garnered $56,000 for workstations on wheels, $64,000 for radiology and CT equipment, $58,000 for a stress test machine and $54,000 for colonoscopes.
The night’s principal sponsor was the Mercy Hospital Berryville Auxiliary. Others included CS Bank, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, Mercy Ministry, Powell Feed & Milling Co. and board member Anita Spearman.
A live auction included 20 box seats in Mercy’s suite at a St. Louis Cardinals game, a guided fishing trip with Bass Pro Shops professional crappie guide Kirby Ham and two original paintings in silver metallic paint by local artist Jody Stephenson.
Attendees included a contingent from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences-Northwest Arkansas. The training hospital provides two resident physicians to the Mercy system in Carroll County.
The crowd closed out the night with dancing to music by DJ Kirby.
