All Children's Hospital held an auction and dinner for 300 physicians, hospital board members, major donors, and community leaders at the Hilton St. Petersburg as part of a campaign to raise funds for a new $300 million facility. Sylvia Ameen, campaign director for the hospital, hired Stefanie Berry of SHOWORKS to create a hot air balloon motif that reflected the hospital's partnership with the Children's Miracle Network (whose logo is a red, yellow, and white hot air balloon).
Inside the ballroom, Berry built a 10-foot-tall hot air balloon to adorn the stage and set it against a sky background made from foam board covered with light blue fabric and white painted clouds. Large planters filled with oversized paper flowers and pinwheels sat around the stage. Brightly colored hot air balloons suspended from the ceiling hovered over select tables with centerpieces of gerbera daisies. Other tables were topped with baskets nestled in a bed of baby's breath arranged to resemble clouds. The baskets were filled with toys, which were distributed to patients after the event.
White picket fencing served as the background for auction items including getaway packages, artwork, relaxation products, and chocolate—such as a pair of five-pound Hershey bars that sold for $10,400. While perusing the auction items, guests commemorated the evening by leaving their handprints in colorful latex paint and signatures in permanent black marker on the fencing. (After the event, the fence was reinstalled as a barricade at the construction site.)
Dinner provided by the Hilton brought guests back down to earth with a hearty menu of baby spinach salad with figs, prosciutto, and feta cheese; a duo of petit filet mignon with red wine demi glaze and sea bass with bruschetta; risotto cake and asparagus bundles; and puff pastry with zabligione and fresh fruit. The biggest treat, however, was the $200,000 the event raised for the new hospital.
—Vanessa Goyanes
