Fort HealthCare Partners Launch 32nd Annual Love Lights Campaign

For 31 years, the response from individuals, organizations, clubs and businesses has made the Fort HealthCare Partners Love Light Tree project a successful annual event, exemplifying the spirit of giving. Each year, the Fort HealthCare Partners select a project at Fort Memorial Hospital to support through the sale of Love Lights, and celebrate with a special tree lighting event, complete with the opportunity to visit with Santa Claus and enjoy complimentary cookies and hot chocolate.

The appeal for 2016 is two-fold. Kari Behling, Fort HealthCare Volunteer Services Manager states, “We are raising money this year for two very important projects; $10,000 is needed for help the Partners fund scholarships for area students who are pursuing degrees in the healthcare field. There is currently a shortage of medical personnel in Wisconsin. We need to have well-trained, well-staffed medical professionals to deliver high quality and high-value healthcare. Nursing and medical schools are costly and these scholarships greatly help students achieve their dreams and provide educated healthcare personnel for the future.”

Behling continues, “We would also like to raise $5,000 to purchase and provide services for emergency medical alarm equipment for indigent clients in the Fort HealthCare service area. Personal emergency response alert systems save lives! There are people in our service area who have chronic health conditions who cannot afford this life saving equipment and service. This money will allow the Partners Careline Program to provide FREE or reduced rates for qualifying clients to receive a Careline personal emergency response system.”

By donating $2 or more, a Love Light on a tree outside the hospital can be purchased as a gift to honor or remember a loved one. Colored lights are intended to honor someone special, while white lights serve as memorials for loved ones who have passed away. Special cards are available, upon request, to notify the person or family of someone being remembered that a love light has been purchased in their honor.

Love Lights can be purchased online (with a minimum of a $5 donation required). An online purchase will also generate a personalized certificate that can be shared with loved ones to notify them of your Love Lights donation.

Love Lights can also be purchased in person from any of the locations where Partners members will be selling Love Lights, or in the Partners Gift Shop/main lobby of Fort Memorial Hospital during normal business hours.

Love Lights can also be ordered by mail; order forms can be found online at FortHealthCare.com/LoveLights. Send a check to Love Lights, Fort HealthCare Partners, 611 Sherman Avenue East, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. Please specify a colored (honor) or white (memorial) light and include the name(s) and address of the person(s) being honored or the family of the individual being remembered.

Donations of $25 or more are recognized as Love Light Tree sponsors. All donations and sponsors will be acknowledged in December. To ensure recognition as a sponsor in this year’s listings, donations must be received by December 8^th.

The campaign is celebrated with a tree lighting ceremony that will be held on Thursday, December 1st at 6:30 p.m. on the Fort Memorial Hospital grounds, near the Sherman Avenue entrance. At the lighting ceremony, a seasonal message will be provided by Craig Wilke, who was born at Fort HealthCare and is a student at the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Special music will be provided by the St. Joseph’s Catholic Youth Choir, directed by Denise Hohf of Fort Atkinson. Following the tree lighting ceremony, attendees are welcome to gather in the hospital’s Steel Away Café for refreshments and a visit from Santa Claus. All are welcome to attend.

For more information or to arrange a donation, please visit FortHealthCare.com/LoveLights or contact the Fort HealthCare Volunteer Services office at (920) 568-5276.