Fling Fundraiser Gets a Facelift

February 21, 2025

     Supporters of the Fitzgibbon Hospital Foundation will experience a completely revamped Fling Gala on Friday, April 4. The Fling has traditionally been a plated dinner with live auction along with silent auction and other opportunities to contribute towards a much-needed service or piece of equipment to enhance patient care. This year, funds from The Fling Casino Night, will help to raise the funds needed for the purchase of a new endoscope capable of cutting the amount of time needed for colonoscopies, endoscopies and other procedures in half. Such improvement in procedure time will mean much shorter wait times for important cancer screening procedures which is much needed given that colon cancer is being seen in much younger populations than in the past.

     “The Fling looks a lot different this year because we are transitioning from a plated dinner to more of an interactive scene. It will be casino night,” said Andrea Barr, Foundation Coordinator at Fitzgibbon Hospital. “We are bringing in a company out of Kansas City that will lead professionally run casino games from 6 to 9 p.m. People will be able to play the casino games of their choice and then, at the end of the evening, trade in their play money for raffle tickets to win awesome prizes. We will have six to eight larger prizes at the end of the night and that will take the place of our live auction.”

            In addition to the new casino games, there will also be heavy hors d’oeuvres and desserts throughout the evening. The evening will also have the usual opportunity to bid on silent auction items which opens on Monday, March 31 so that bidders can participate from home leading up to the event. Individuals can register early for the event so they can get their bids in by scanning the QR code on their invitation or by going to the Fitzgibbon Hospital Foundation page on Facebook where an invitation has been posted.

            There will also be the Wine and Whiskey Grab which has been extremely popular over the last few years. Individuals pay a fee to have an opportunity to win a bottle of wine or whiskey, all of which is valued at a higher amount than the fee paid to play.

            “We're also adding a 50-50 raffle this year so people will be able to buy tickets and, at the end of the night, a winner will be drawn and they will receive half the pot of whatever we raise,” said Barr.

            Tickets for the April 4 event are $75 each and can be purchased by calling Andrea Barr in the Fitzgibbon Hospital Foundation office at (660)831-3850 or by going to the Fitzgibbon Hospital Foundation Facebook page. The event will start at 5:30 p.m. and will end at 9 p.m. at the Jackson’s Event Center in Marshall.