Community Wishes / Ben Tierney

Community Wishes donates record amount to give back this season at Holiday Wishes Gala

Courtney Soule | Thursday, December 12, 2019

The crowd voted for the ugliest attire...the lighted beard won. Ben Tierney

The gala featured raffles and auction items of all kinds. Ben Tierney

Over 300 attendees made this year one of the largest donation years yet. Ben Tierney

What’s red, green, white, sparkly, sequined, sometimes knitted, sometimes lit, and always a good time?

Midland’s largest ugly sweater party compliments of Community Wishes, of course.

The crowd at the Holiday Wishes Gala last week brought as much cheer as they did local stewardship.

The gala featured well over 100 donated raffle and auction items, a raffle for the first 100 tickets sold, a $1,000 prize as well as multiple 50/50 drawings with proceeds going to help local organizations in the community.

The Community Wishes Holiday Wishes Gala on December 5.

While tallies are still being made, this year’s donations seem to be the most money the organization has raised in a year. Proceeds will go to The Diaper Alliance, Midland County Foster Closet and the Midland County chapter of Blue Star Mothers, which helps support troops overseas as well as several local military efforts.

The Holiday Wishes Gala dates back approximately 20 years, and has always had a strong focus on helping children and families in our local community. The event has historically received strong support from the Midland Board of Realtors and several local realtors individually.

This year’s event featured more raffles, a silent auction and many other contests – and it got ugly. Each year, the group keeps the event lighthearted and encourages attendees to wear their ugliest sweater or holiday outfit creation.

Proceeds from this year's event will go to The Diaper Alliance, Midland County Foster Closet and the Midland County chapter of Blue Star Mothers.

The variety and hilarity of the crowd’s ugly holiday attire did not disappoint, with everything from matching jumpsuits to a lighted Christmas beard.

The crowd voted for best (or ugliest) sweater of the bunch and this year drew strong competition from the events more than 300 attendees.

Community Wishes is preparing to do a check presentation party for the three organizations in January.

For more information on Community Wishes and the organizations they support annually, visit them on Facebook.

Read more articles by Courtney Soule.

Courtney is a longtime Midland resident and enjoys telling the story of the community's evolution. She ran Catalyst Midland as the publication's managing editor from October 2017 through September 2020. Her favorite topics are interesting people, change makers, outdoor recreation and design. Aside from Catalyst, her published work can be found various places including Elephant Journal, Thought Catalog and a number of other websites, papers, menus and the occasional one-liner.