Residents Are Among Those Who Will Make Hospital’s

Golden Anniversary Gala A Glamorous Event

By Shannon Hicks

The basement of Claudia and Richard Coopersmith’s home was turned into a centerpiece assembly line one recent morning, when Mrs Coopersmith hosted a work party. She and five other ladies were working as members of the centerpiece committee for the upcoming Danbury Hospital Golden Anniversary Ball.

The big event is more than six weeks away, but the committee — like many others who are working behind the scenes to make sure the 50th anniversary event is a great fundraising and socially successful event — was nevertheless hard at work.

The centerpieces will be lofty, standing about four feet tall. But that height will be needed, considering the size of the ballroom at the Ethan Allen Inn, where this year’s event will be taking place. The planning committee is expecting 500 guests, who will be seated at large tables in the cavernous ballroom. The centerpieces need to be large enough to stand out in the middle of those tables, without being so large that they tower over everything and everyone in attendance.

The arrangements begin with silk orchids, and then each designer added moss covered pods, eucalyptus, spider green, ground moss, a crystal element (imagine a miniature magic wand with a crystal orb at the end instead of a star), and a gold metallic mesh ribbon. The lower half of the centerpiece is a candlestand, and the two pieces will be attached just before the gala. The predominant color, considering they are for a 50th anniversary celebration, is gold.

Once all of the centerpieces are brought to the inn the day of the gala, a final touch will also be added to each work. Curly willow will be added to the upper portion of the centerpiece at the last minute. Dried curly willow is an ideal choice for tall centerpieces, since it adds depth and an additional decorative dimension. It is somewhat fragile, however, which is why it will not be added to the centerpieces until the last minute.

The centerpieces committee includes Mrs Coopersmith and Linda Pickwick, along with Janet Fink, Ana Cristina Herrick, Leila Kayal, Fran Kelly, Christine Manoni, and Diana Seaman.

“We love doing floral arrangements,” Mrs Coopersmith said last week of her friend and business partner, Mrs Pickwick. “So we decided to do this for the hospital event. Our last big project was the tercentennial.”

The two friends were involved in one of the town’s largest tercentennial events three years ago when they spearheaded the decorating committee for the Tercentennial Gala in January 2005. Last year each of the artists decorated three-dimensional tin stars that were also part of a fundraising event, the “Diamonds in the Sky” fundraiser and 75th anniversary celebration for C.H. Booth Library.

“Danbury Hospital has always given back to me and our family,” said Mrs Coopersmith, who is married to the local chiropractor Richard Coopersmith. “We wanted to do the same for them.

“We thought of silk this year because as years have passed and we have done arrangements for other events, as beautiful as the flowers are, at the end of the day we couldn’t sell them,” Mrs Coopersmith said. “It’s a large expense.”

This year the women are planning to raffle off the centerpieces at the end of the gala.

 “That’s the best part about doing these in silk,” Mrs Pickwick said.

Newtown resident Nancy Murphy is co-chairing this year’s gala along with Bonnie Zuccala. The two women were also the co-chairs of last year’s gala, which had a James Bond theme and raised $192,000 in net proceeds for the hospital’s patient care programs and services.

A friend of most of the women on the centerpieces committee, Mrs Murphy stopped in to see the work in progress at the Coopersmith residence and was thrilled at the group’s progress.

“They’re beautiful,” she said of the centerpieces. “They’ve been great, doing all these centerpieces for us.”

The women on the centerpieces committee represent a fraction of the volunteers who are working on the Golden Anniversary Ball. Mrs Murphy, who has co-chaired the event for the past three years and handled the chairmanship on her own a few years ago, figures nearly three dozen volunteers have been working on the 2008 event.

“There are many people who make this event happen,” she said. “The committee of women who volunteer their time, and the members of the hospital’s Development Fund, they make this happen. Also, so many of the businesses who donate items for the raffles, or take ad space… it’s all very wonderful and supportive for the hospital.”

The Golden Anniversary Ball

The Danbury Hospital Golden Anniversary Ball will take place Saturday, November 15, at the Ethan Allen Hotel, 21 Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury.

Tickets are $250 per person, with higher levels of sponsorship certainly available.

Susan Kania, the director of donor relations and stewardship for Danbury Hospital’s Development Fund, stressed that money raised through the gala has always been used toward patient care.

“It’s not up to our committee to tell the hospital how to use the committee, but monies that are raised through the gala remain with the hospital, and are utilized for the most pressing need each year,” she said, “whatever that may be. Unlike the [hospital’s annual] golf tournament, which always benefits cancer research and treatment, the gala gives the hospital flexibility to use funds toward programs or equipment that is needed for patient care.

“The gala money,” she underscored, “is for patient care and technology, never for salaries.”

Since 1987, when Ms Kania began tracking the gala’s budget, net proceeds from the gala has exceeded $2 million.

“It’s important, a really important event for us,” she said. “Things like the ball are a godsend for us.”

The evening, which is a black tie event, begins at 6:30 with a cocktail hour and live jazz music. This year’s honoree is Praxair, Inc, which will be honored during an awards ceremony around 8. Dinner will be served shortly thereafter.

More live music and dancing will follow dinner, as will the raffle drawings. Tickets are being sold in advance and will be available the night of the gala ($25 each, five for $100, or 15 for $200) and prizes this year include a six-month lease on a Mercedes-Benz courtesy of Mercedes Benz of Danbury.

“This is a great prize,” said Nancy Murphy. “The winner gets to pick up the car in April and they have it for the summer. It goes back in September.”

Additional prizes will include a week on Cape Cod just in time for Independence Day, a weekend in New York City including accommodations at The Manhattan Club, a piece of jewelry from Jewelry Design, and plenty of gift certificates to various restaurants.

 The Golden Anniversary Ball, the 50th annual Danbury Hospital Development Fund ball, will be Saturday, November 15, at the Ethan Allen Hotel, 21 Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury. For additional information or to receive an invitation call 739-7234 or send an email to DevFund@DanHosp.org.