Favorite Characters and Treasured Tales at The Bookworm Ball

Hunter S. Thompson, Dr. Seuss and Agatha Christie were all represented, as well as Cinderella, Cat in the Hat, Lady DeWinter and Katniss Everdeen. It was an enchanted evening to celebrate beloved authors, characters and books at The Bookworm Ball, a dinner, dance and auction to benefit Mt. Evan’s Home Health & Hospice.

The sold-out, 320-person event spanned across two floors and weaved into multiple rooms at its longtime host site, the Mount Vernon Country Club. Yet, it still felt intimate as audiovisual experts kept everyone in the know. They skillfully filmed and ran sound so that each costumed character could easily see and hear key presenters.

The phrase “something for everyone” summed up the volume of silent auction items. Volunteers collected more than 250 goodies to go up for bid.  “That’s almost one for everyone,” joked Board of Directors Past President Bill Manning.  Live auction items included a football signed by Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and real-time art created by local award-winning artist Julianne Miller.

“Mt. Evans is very dear to my heart,” conveyed the artist. “They have been there for me, sadly, more times than I would like, but they have always been there.”

The decorations went well beyond books. Instead, the committee of 40 put touches of tales everywhere, including silhouettes of famous characters cut out of Masonite, to flowing ribbons with genres dripping down from the ceiling, to delightful hand-made centerpieces of rolled magazine pages on vases and book-page flowers.

“We estimate we rolled about 8,500 pieces of magazine paper to create the beads for the vases,” said Decorations Committee co-chair Peggy Fetchenhier with a laugh.

The committee was in good creative hands as Fetchenhier has been leading the decorations drive for the event for nearly 20 years. “I just keep coming back,” said the experienced set designer.

“It’s like a storybook fairytale in here,” said Executive Director Kathy Engel as she referenced the details around the rooms.

Mt. Evans Home Health & Hospice began in Evergreen in 1980 in response to the community’s need for hospice care—allowing terminally ill patients to die with dignity in the comfort of their own homes. Mt. Evans was one of the first hospice organizations in Colorado and served 15 patients in its first year. It’s reach if far beyond that now. Today, the organization provides compassionate in-home health care and hospice services to Colorado mountain-area residents, as well as grief support to adults and children. Mt. Evans will accept any patient regardless of pay source or age and works with most insurance companies, including Medicare, Medicaid and long-term health care. Currently 65 employees, 20 volunteer board members, and more than 400 volunteers serve and support Mt. Evans Home Health & Hospice. It’s award winning bereavement camp, Camp Comfort, is just shy of 20 years of operating. The camp, offered two weekends each summer, has served more than 1,110 children from numerous states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico

To understand part of how Mt. Evans Home Health & Hospice touches lives, think about how you hold a good book as you come to its final page. Perhaps you reflect on the journey you took as you read the last paragraph. Perhaps you gently close the cover and set it on the nightstand with your own nod to the author’s good work. Mt. Evans compassionately helps so many in its community (and far beyond) reflect on the story of loved ones, whose lives will be treasured forever, like a good book.