Kelowna’s Royal Avenue is playing host to the first Winter Wonderland fundraiser for JoeAnna’s House, which provides a place for families to stay when they travel to support a loved one receiving care at Kelowna General Hospital.
“There’s definitely a lot going on we have a beer garden…we have Santa photos, they’ve done amazing Hallmark movie background and we have this little mini gift vendor market, where we have sunrise rotary the Okanagan Candle Company, a couple of of our own endeavours. We’ve made little JoAnna‘s House mittens and we have lots of kids activities,” said Arden Poulin, KGH Foundation events and marketing coordinator.
The holiday party is a fundraiser and donations at the gate go towards supporting JoAnna’s House which has been helping families since 2019.
“Since we opened we have had over 2,000 families but that is equated over 19,000 nights in the house,” said JoeAnnas House director, Darlene Haslock.
“The cost of the house is $25 a night, which is for a family — that’s not per person or anything, it’s one room and there are no taxes and it’s so affordable.”
Once people attending the Winter Wonderland event had their fill of holiday cheer, they were invited to warm up inside JoAnna’s House and take a tour.
Guests toured the communal living area, the kitchen as well as the mud room to see where their donations go to.
The inaugural Winter Wonderland fundraising event replaces the Better Together fundraiser which was held in October for three years.