There were handbags with designer names that every woman knows … Rebecca Minkoff, Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, Ralph Lauren and many more at the 3rd annual ‘Handbags for Hospice’, where 171 women came out to bid on them and also for a Live Auction.
The event, held at the Kincardine Pavilion, is a major fundraiser for the Huron Shore Hospice at Tiverton Manor in Tiverton. The Hospice currently has one suite and has moved into a direction that will see a second one completed to offer people in the area the right to die with dignity, surrounded by those who love them and with new programming to help with grief counseling.
Duncan and Lesley Hawthorne hosted the event as guest sponsors and donated $20,000 to the fundraiser in memory of friend Connie Mukabrad-Menn.
Co-Chair Cheryl Cottrill said that tickets for the event sold out within 45 minutes and $146,000 was raised in sponsorships and in-kind by 170 large and small businesses, corporations and individuals. “This fundraiser will mean that we will be able to sustain our hospice into 2021 that includes operations, as we receive no government funding of any kind and we are the only residential hospice in Bruce County.
Handbags for Hospice is organized by a Committee of volunteers headed up by co-Chairs Cheryl Cottrill and Carol Rencheck who, this year, accessed more than 100 designer bags that sold through silent auction.
There was no doubt however, that the hit of the evening was the live auction by Layne the Auctionista who not only raised thousands of dollars but had everyone roaring in laughter as she bounded on and off the stage into the audience in her shocking pink jacket and silver shoes.
Among the items she auctioned were several handbags, a weekend Getaway at Cobble Beach for four and a tattoo session with tatoo artist Scott Duncan that ended up being two sessions for two bidders who each bid $2,000.
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Also among the guests were the former Bruce Power President & CEO Duncan Hawthorne and the current CEO Mike Rencheck, Kincardine Mayor Anne Eadie and Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson.
A final total raised has not yet been determined.
