The Bradford Hospital Auxiliary (BHA) hosted the inaugural Blueberry Festival at Bradford Regional Medical Center (BRMC), a Kaleida Health facility, on Friday.
Held in the main lobby of BRMC, the event attracted about 300 community members with blueberry themed treats, prizes and other raffles.
“With this being our first event, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. However, it was great to see all the hard work in preparation pay off. The community support and engagement for the Blueberry Festival made it all worthwhile,” said Stephanie Huber, executive director, BHA.
The event raised more than $8,000 for the Bradford Hospital Auxiliary, generated from food sales including freshly made waffles with blueberry topping and blueberry cobbler along with silent auction ticket purchases. Baskets donated by BRMC employees and community members, with more than 25 different themes, were raffled off.
“I can’t thank everyone enough for their help to make our first ever Blueberry Festival such a success. I look forward to bringing this back next year with the expectation of continuously expanding the event into something much larger,” said Huber.
The Bradford Hospital Auxiliary supports the mission and vision of BRMC through fundraising and retail operations. The auxiliary sponsors annual nursing and radiology scholarships to area students interested in becoming a healthcare professional.