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Health center gala auction set

AUCTION COMMITTEE — Items for a live auction as well as Chinese auction items will be up for grabs as part of the Ohio Valley Health Center’s annual fundraiser gala to be held April 22 at St. Florian Hall in Wintersville. Committee members involved in that element of the fundraiser are, from left, Chris Hyland, Chris Orris, OVHC Executive Director Trudy Wilson, auction committee Chair Betty Ferron and Eileen Petrola. Tammy Hammer and Suzanne Brown also are committee members. The gala is open to the public, and tickets are $50 per person, available by calling the center at (740) 283-2856. The ticket deadline is April 16. -- Janice Kiaski

STEUBENVILLE — A Pittsburgh Steelers package, Jamorbee in the Hills tickets and a catering package to accommodate 30 people are just a few of the main auction items that patrons of the upcoming Ohio Valley Health Center gala will have a chance to take home with them.

A live auction and a Chinese auction will offer an opportunity for supporters to claim great prizes, according to OVHC Executive Director Trudy Wilson, while also helping local residents in need.

“We have some awesome auction items this year,” Wilson said. “The bidding usually gets competitive and crazy, but it’s all for a great cause — supporting uninsured patient care.”

The auctions unfold at the 12th-annual gala set for April 22 at St. Florian Hall in Wintersville. The major fundraiser for the center’s operation is open to the public, and tickets are $50 per person, available by calling the center at (740) 283-2856.

The ticket deadline is April 16 for the gala, which will have a “Great Gatsby” theme, meaning attendees can feel free to dress up in 1920s attire if they feel inspired as a way to “have fun and celebrate the health center,” but that’s optional.

The event will include a social hour of champagne and hors d’oeuvres at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m., followed by the recognition of honorees, a state-of-the-center report, announcements and the auctions.

Betty Ferron is chairman of the auction committee that also includes Chris Hyland, Chris Orris, Eileen Petrola, Tammy Hammer, Suzanne Brown and Wilson. John Westling will conduct the live auction.

Live auction items and their donors include a Pittsburgh Steelers package, including three tickets to a January 2019 game, Thomas Graham; a $1,000 Piergallini Catering package for 30 people, Todd Piergallini; a Seven Springs Resort golf package, the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times; a Dave Barnhouse limited edition numbered print, donated by Barnhouse and framed by Nelson’s Fine Art and Gifts; flowers of the month, McCauslen’s Florist; an outdoor fireplace, Sunnest Service; Jamboree in the Hills tickets, Jim Emmerling; a Grand Vue Park Treehouse package, Grand Vue Park; a propane outdoor fireplace with a table and two chairs, Trinity Health System; and a $1,000 advertising package, WTOV-TV.

Multiple Chinese auction items include a Dourney & Bourke purse, a Pittsburgh Steelers rug, an auto detailing package, Amazon Fire 7 with Alexa, Lifeprint photo and video printer for smartphones, a Jaguer Sophia Dome briefcase and a Longaberger basket.

A “Restaurant Tree” filled with gift cards for local restaurants also is an auction attraction.

Aside from the auctions, the gala will provide a time to pay special tributes.

The Mary Jane Brooks Charitable Trust, for example, will be applauded as community partner of the year, while Denise Lucas will be recognized as provider of the year and Debbie Myers, volunteer of the year.

The gala constitutes the center’s largest fundraiser. “We generally like to get between a quarter and a half of our cash operating budget through this every year,” Wilson said, noting the 2018 operating budget is $226,775, an amount that does not include in-kind donations and pharmaceuticals.

The health center exists to provide safety-net health care to low-income patients who do not have any insurance, or who have limited insurance through Medicaid or a managed care program.

“Without the services offered by OVHC, many patients would go without health care and life-saving medications, or they would have died from complications of their chronic illnesses,” Wilson said.

The center operates out of Suite 202, One Ross Park, 380 Summit Ave., in the Trinity Medical Center East area but is planning a move by late summer into its new location at 423 South St. in the former Neighborhood House Daycare and Preschool building after renovations are initiated and completed.

Wilson has identified the center’s focus as working to strengthen the internal structure, develop more solid processes and launch a three-year, $1 million capital expansion project. It will be implemented, she said, in three phases:

• Renovating the new health center facility to relocate back into downtown Steubenville.

• Expanding the current onsite pharmacy to become a community charitable pharmacy serving those within 200 percent of the federal poverty level and uninsured.

• Working to collaborate with an outside organization to provide an OVHC dental clinic.

“Along with these three major goals over the next three years, OVHC is currently developing the final steps to launch a free health outcomes program for diabetes management, which should launch during the summer,” Wilson noted.

The gala is for everybody, according to Wilson and gala co-chairs Anthony Mougianis, board vice president, and his fiancee, Tara Dzvonick.

“We encourage businesspeople, people in the community that maybe wonder what we’re about and what we’re doing. We encourage people to come who know what we’re doing and are excited about it and want to see us move forward, and we want to invite anybody interested in the fact that we’re providing free health care for people who have no other option for their health care,” Wilson said.

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