A suite for a Memorial Cup game or a Smile Cycle Tour through Kelowna’s brewery district with 14 of your closest friends?
Those are just a couple of the prize packages that will be up for grabs when the 12th annual Swinging with the Stars event is held on Saturday, Feb. 22, in support of the Central Okanagan Hospice Association.
And here’s the kicker. You don’t even have to be in attendance to bid on the spectacular prize packages—nor do you have to wait until the night of the event.
Thanks to the technology known as Givergy that Swinging with the Stars is utilizing this year, anyone with a Wi-Fi connection will be able to bid on silent auction prizes that will go the highest bidder during COHA’s largest fundraising event of the year.
In addition, the bidding window opens today and will run for the next 10 days. It can be found at SWTS2020.ca.
“That’s something that we really love with the platform, was just being able to utilize the technology so that we are more accessible everywhere,” COHA fund development co-ordinator Eva Stoffman says. “You don’t necessarily need to be in the room at Swinging with the Stars. If you can’t come on February 22nd, you can still take part in the auction right up until it closes that evening.
“You’ll get the notifications. You’ll get the updates, so that that you can still have that bidding competition and you can out-bid somebody who is in the room. We’re really excited about that.”
There are still a handful of tickets available for the event, which will be held at the Delta Grand Okanagan. Those in attendance will have a crack at the live auction prizes, which include a helicopter ride to play golf at Predator Ridge as well as a party, courtesy of Avalon Event Rentals, for as many as 50 people.
The event itself will feature four individuals or couples and three teams showing off what they have been working with dance instructors for the last few months. The four individuals and couples who are taking part in this year’s event are Harmony Homes’ Jamela Van Steinburg, Advance Dental Group’s Dr. Amanda Sigouin, August Automotive Group’s Matt August, and Upside Cider’s Isaac Potash and Jaye Siegmueller. Groups are from Capital News, Crimson Hair Salon and Invati Yoga Studio.
People in attendance at Swinging with the Stars will purchase a star, which symbolizes a vote, for their favourite performance, but this year anyone and everyone can buy a star for their favourite performer through the Givergy platform. The star purchase window also opens today.
“The platform gives us and the dancers greater exposure, which is wonderful,” Stoffman says, “and it also gives that to our donors and our partners.”
All in all, it gives COHA a chance to raise more money for its compassionate, end-of-life and bereavement services.
“We’re obviously putting out a call to our community to pass it on to others who perhaps don’t live here but maybe there’s a particular item that is of interest to them to come to the Okanagan to enjoy,” COHA executive director Natasha Girard said.
“So the access it’s going to create is quite convenient for many, many people.”
This article is written by or on behalf of the sponsoring client and does not necessarily reflect the views of Okanagan Edge.
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