Fundraiser To Benefit Island Medical Center This Sunday

The season's premier fundraiser, an auction, raffle, and buffet to benefit the Mackinac Island Medical Center, will be this weekend, Sunday, August 24, at Grand Hotel. The event begins at 5 p.m.

Open to the public, the benefit features a vast silent auction offering hundreds of goods and services, from dinners and accommodations at restaurants and hotels, to ferry and taxi tickets, paintings, and, gifts, and antiques.

"We've got some very interesting live auction items lined up for this year," said Kay Hoppenrath, one of the organizers of the event and the clinic coordinator at the medical center. Included will be a week at a condominium at St. John's in the Virgin Islands, several unique oil paintings of Mackinac from the 1930s, fancy bicycles, old photographs, and paintings by local artists.

The $30 admission, which is donated by the hotel to the medical center, includes a buffet dinner, beer and wine, and non-alcoholic beverages.

Resort wear and dressy casual is the suggested attire, and a special 10 p.m. Arnold ferry to Mackinaw City has been scheduled for mainland patrons.

Raffle tickets, with a $5,000 first prize, $3,000 second prize, and $2,000 third prize are available at the event or by calling the medical center at 847-3582.