/ FEATURE
Facing COVID-19: Converting a Night of Heroes to a Virtual Success in Six Weeks By Kevin Neal, Kate Fassett, and Lisa Hartsock
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ight of Heroes is a core event for the Valleywise Health Foundation, highlighting incredible patient stories of resilience and survival. Each year we create a moving portrait of heroism—honoring patients, families, doctors, nurses and first responders—and give our community of 300 invited guests a chance to walk in the shoes of a hero. This year, we were excited to recognize 10-year-old Isabella McCune, who courageously survived more than 100 surgeries and procedures after suffering secondand third-degree burns over 65 percent of her body. But then COVID-19 changed everything. Six weeks before our April gala, the National Basketball Association abruptly canceled a
game and then its entire season, and quickly the dominos began to topple across the country as professional meetings, sports seasons, and all forms of live gatherings were scrapped or postponed. We canceled our annual golf tournament on March 13, and immediately began to talk internally about what our Night of Heroes event could look like in this new environment. Briefly we considered postponing, but with many other organizations moving events to the fall, and our Night in the Valley gala already scheduled for October, we did not want all our events packed into a short period creating the potential for donor fatigue.
AHP Healthcare Philanthropy Journal|Winter 2021| 18
