Tickets will go live before Oct. 1 for the 32nd Annual Putting on the Ritz: A Gala of Giving, coinciding with invitations going out. Out of the 500 seats available at the Gala, only 100-150 individual tickets are available.
File photo | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG — Those looking to buy individual tickets for the 32nd Annual Putting on the Ritz: A Gala of Giving won’t be waiting much longer.
According to executive director of the Scotland Memorial Foundation Misty McMillan, tickets will go live before Oct. 1, coinciding with invitations going out. Out of the 500 seats available at the Gala, only 100-150 individual tickets are available, as sponsors claim the bulk of the seats.
The event will be held on Nov. 1, and this year’s theme is Havana Nights. Many of the Ritz’s favorites will be returning, like the wine pull and live auction, but this year the silent auction will move into the Dulin Center to make more room in the ballroom for guests.
“We are always accepting auction items,” McMillan said. “Any new items ranging from $25 and up. We are looking for artwork, jewelry, gift cards, experiences, vacation homes, and more. We’d like to have over 200 items to auction. The auction will go live a couple of weeks before the Ritz.”
One of the biggest parts of the evening is the Fund the Need, which aims to meet critical needs for local patients.
“Last year, we launched the Community Health Patient Assistance Fund with a focus on transportation, one of the most significant barriers to care in our region,” McMillan said. “Thanks to generous support, we were able to help many patients overcome this challenge and access the care they needed.”
McMillan added that this year they’re expanding the impact of the fund to address another critical barrier: access to medication.
“Too often, patients are unable to afford the prescriptions that are essential to their health and recovery,” McMillan said. “By broadening the scope of the fund to include medication assistance, we aim to ensure that more patients can get the treatments they need to heal and thrive.”
Last year, Fund the Need raised $62,000 just on the day of the Ritz.
“If folks can’t attend, they can still be a special sponsor,” McMillan said. “We need sponsors for several things, like the dessert station, centerpieces, ice sculpture, valet parking, signature cocktail, and many others. These come with special promotions and signage at the event.”
There are also other ways to support the Foundation without attending the Ritz, such as the Ritz Raffle, which features winning prizes of $20,000 cash, a 2022 Chevrolet Colorado, a John Deere tractor, or a storage building and golf cart.
“The Ritz Raffle tickets are being sold at our sponsors’ locations, including all the Nic’s Pik Kwik locations, Scotland Motors, Quality Equipment, Poole Automotive, and Poole’s Buildings, along with other businesses around our communities and at our clinics,” McMillan said. “Tickets can be purchased at our office or reserved online … we are only selling 5,000 tickets, so odds of winning are really good.”
McMillan added that the Foundation is looking for volunteers to help the week of the event, the day of, and the day after. From set up to prep work to decorating to cleanup, there is an opportunity for everyone who wants to volunteer.
“The Ritz is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” McMillan said. “The critical funds we raise help support so many patient areas around Scotland Health. The generosity of our donors for a fun evening out in reality is changing and saving lives.”
To contact the Foundation, call 910-291-7551. Additional information, including sponsorship and ticket details, can be found at www.scotlandmemorialfoundation.org or on the Foundation’s Facebook page.