St. Anthony’s Hospital Gala raises $33,000
Peter Carscadden Funeral Service bids on time donated by the Esterhazy Fire Department in live auction, uses it to help the elderly
November 24, 2025, 2:25 pm
Shayna Zubko
The first annual St. Anthony’s Hospital Gala was held on October 17. The gala saw a sold-out crowd to view a comedian and participate in a live auction, with a total of $33,000 raised.
The goal of the gala was to fundraise for some much-needed equipment for the hospital. While a new facility is in the planning stages, the goal is to help the current facility stay up-to-date and function as best as possible.
“We are working for our current facility, and anything we are able to do will transfer over to the new build,” says Sonya Crawford of St. Anthony’s Hospital.
With this year’s gala being such a success, there are plans to hold another gala in the future and to maintain an annual event to support the Esterhazy hospital facility.
“A goal for the future, or perhaps an unofficial dream, would be to work towards purchasing a basic ultrasound machine, so that local patients don’t have to travel to Yorkton or Regina for ultrasounds” says Crawford.
With the funds that were raised this year, the hospital was able to purchase a new ECG machine that is already in-use, and new vitals machines have also been purchased.
The live auction that was planned by Sherry-Lee Duncan of the St. Anthony’s Hospital Board saw the auctioning of local firefighters to donate their time to the purchaser. The Esterhazy, Spy Hill and Langenburg fire departments all participated in the auction, and a home cooked meal from It’s All About the Meat Baby was also auctioned off. In total, the auction garnered $11,500 in funds raised. The Esterhazy Fire Department alone raised $8,000 with a $4,000 auction price that was matched.
Peter Carscadden Funeral Service won the bid for the Esterhazy fire department’s time. The business decided that they did not need the donation of time from firefighters, so decided to use the hours to help elderly people within the community of Esterhazy.
Randy and David Klassen co-ordinated to help four elderly widows to get their windows washed.
“We did not do it to benefit ourselves, we just want to highlight the good-hearted volunteerism of the firefighters to benefit the community,” says Randy Klassen, and to “highlight positive things happening to raise funds and new equipment for the hospital.”
The next gala will likely have some similar characteristics, with another live auction and entertainment. However, they would like to add other elements to make it accessible for everyone to participate. The success of this gala, and the ability to purchase new equipment for the hospital is thanks to the community support they received and ensures another event like this will happen in the future.
