Country Sweethearts fundraiser set for Feb. 4
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 7 months AGO
Attendees look over the auction items at the 2022 Country Sweethearts fundraiser for the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation.
REBECCA PETTINGILL/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Auctioneer Chuck Yarbro follows the bidding during the 2022 Country Sweethearts fundraiser.
The 2022 Country Sweethearts fundraiser for the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation drew a full house. This year's event has sold out more than a week before festivities kick off.
Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation Director Angel Ledesma talks to the crowd during the 2022 Country Sweethearts fundraiser.
The crowd lines up for dinner at the Country Sweethearts fundraiser 2022.
Country Sweetheart fundraiser 2022 attendees enjoy a little conversation.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | January 27, 2023 1:30 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Country Sweethearts Benefit Auction sponsored by the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation is so popular it’s already sold out, and it’s still more than a week away.
“Sold out, and we have a waiting list,” said CBCF Director Angel Ledesma.
The dinner, auction and dance are scheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Commercial Building at the Grant County Fairgrounds. People who couldn’t score a ticket, but who want to bid on live auction items, can do so online. Online bidding opens Monday; people can register at the cancer foundation website, www.columbiabasincancerfoundation.org.
Donations can be made any time on the foundation website.
“Pretty much on every page there’s a donation option,” she said.
“Under the Big Top” is the theme, and has been for a few years. The dance, dinner and auction is crucial to the foundation’s mission, Ledesma said.
“It is the major fundraiser,” she said. “This is the big one - the main one.”
Country Sweethearts 2022 raised more than $170,000, she said. The money raised goes to pay for services for cancer foundation clients.
A cancer diagnosis can be challenging for patients and their families, with extra expenses at the same time the family income might go down. Treatment might require interruptions to the work schedule - thus cutting down the paycheck - at the same time the patient is making trips for out-of-town treatment.
The cancer foundation provides gas cards for patients, along with grocery and gift cards so patients can fill other needs. Ledesma estimated the foundation spent about $125,000 on those services in 2022.
“And that’s just the grocery, gas and gift cards,” she said.
There’s also money for people who need help with motel expenses, in cases where treatment requires an overnight stay.
“We do a lot of lodging,” Ledesma said.
The money raised at Country Sweethearts also pays a portion of the expenses for the Meals to Heal program. Meals to Heal provides food each week for cancer foundation clients, delivered to their door.
Patients who lose their hair during treatment can get hats, wigs, scarves and other hair coverings through the foundation. It also sponsors a monthly support group for patients and caregivers.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
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