PORT ANGELES — The 16th annual Harvest of Hope fundraising dinner Saturday generated $115,000 for equipment for Olympic Medical Center’s Cancer Center expansion in Sequim and OMC’s Patient Navigator program for low-income patients.
Longtime foundation and OMC Cancer Center Sequim donors and supporters George and Barbara Brown and Phil and Linda Walker also were presented with the annual Rick Kaps Award.
The award is named for the late Sequim High School boys basketball coach and educator who died from lymphoma in 1998 at age 55.
The Kaps Award is presented to an organization’s or individual’s contribution to cancer care and overall health care on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“We were extremely happy with how the event went,” OMC Foundation Executive Director Bruce Skinner said Monday.
“The main reason why the event exists is to raise the money to enhance cancer care on the Olympic Peninsula, and once again we were able to achieve that by raising over six figures, so we were very happy.”
The Harvest of Hope dinner was presented by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at Guy Cole Event Center in Sequim.
Skinner said $100,000 of the proceeds will pay for equipment and $15,000 will fund the Patient Navigator program, which will receive an additional $15,000 from sponsorship revenues realized after those revenues covered Harvest of Hope dinner expenses, Skinner said.
“The reason why the Patient Navigator program exists is, most of [the patients] have jobs, but once they are stricken with cancer, they can no long work,” he said.
“They don’t have a revenue stream.
“There’s a real need to cover their basic living expenses.”
The event, attended by 240 dinner participants, has raised more than $100,000 the past four years.
The dinner and the upcoming Festival of Trees, slated for Nov. 23-25, are the foundation’s largest fundraisers, Skinner said.
Food for the dinner was prepared by chef Kathryn Kitts from The Sweet Beginning Café in Sequim. Wine was from Harbinger Winery of Port Angeles.
To date, the foundation has generated more than $1.1 million as part of its capital campaign to raise money for OMC’s Cancer Center expansion project.
“OMC and the foundation is thankful for all of the support that it has received from over 350 donors who have contributed toward this effort,” Skinner said in news release on the Harvest of Hope dinner.
Those interested in more information or in making a donation to benefit local health care can call the OMC Foundation office at 360-417-7144, or email them at bruce@omhf.org.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
