DEAR FRIENDS,

As we planned this evening to celebrate 40 years of Camp Rainbow Gold, we ran into a challenge. How could we concisely and effectively capture such a beautiful story like Camp’s? But it has been an absolute pleasure trying because it meant looking through thousands of camp memories, like the polaroids of campers jumping in the lake, arm in arm. We read newspaper articles about 500 motorcycles escorting the bus to camp, watched videos of a Peter Pan food fight, remembered dancing under the stars, and reminisced about the determination of campers to reach the top of the climbing wall. With all these photos, videos, and memories piled together, we realized we were looking at a Legacy of Love!

The success of Camp Rainbow Gold programs has been driven by passionate volunteers and generous donors that dream big and believe in changing the world for the better. This legacy — your legacy — that will be discussed for years to come, is the impact Camp Rainbow Gold made on the lives of every camper over the past 40 years. The legacy is laughter around campfires, lifelong friendships, parents’ relief not worrying about how to pay for college, family time together not guided by a hospital schedule, and brothers and sisters getting to have something of their own.

So, tonight is about celebrating this legacy that YOU have made possible. Every volunteer hour and every dollar donated has built this legacy. Your support tonight will add more pictures, newspaper clippings, videos, tales, and memories that will continue to tell the story of Camp Rainbow Gold, the story of love made visible.

Be sure to take a minute tonight and look around at your Legacy of Love! On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, and the families we serve, thank you. Now, let’s do it all again, for another 40 magical years!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Lizberg CEO/Executive Director Board President

5:30PM

WELCOME TO CAMP

Sip a Cocktail, Camp Activities, Buy a Raffle Ticket Walk down memory lane with 40 years of camp history.

7:30PM

“CIRCLE UP” FOR DINNER

Join camp volunteer and Hailey Chief of Police, Steve England for a “Banana Split”

“Campers Say the Darndest Things” presented by Share Your Heart Ball Co-Founder, Kris Nardecchia

LEGACY of LOVE V ideo

Live Auction

Paula Shaffer

Our Family’s Journey

Paddles Up for the Kids

9:30PM

LET’S DANCE — No Limits is back !

12:00AM

CHECKOUT CLOSES

Please be sure to collect auction items at registration before leaving.

Welcome to the 2023 Share Your Heart Ball for Camp Rainbow Gold, also known as, our favorite night of the year!

Oh my goodness…I hope you all can feel the sheer excitement and gratitude we have for your presence here tonight. Over the past several years, we have kept the faith, hope, and optimism that we would once again be gathered together in this room to share our mutual love for Camp Rainbow Gold.

This year is especially momentous because it marks the 40th Anniversary of Camp Rainbow Gold and a Legacy of Love created by everyone in this room. What started as a one week summer camp for Idaho kids diagnosed with cancer has evolved into year-round programs and camps, not only for these incredible kids, but also for their siblings, families, and networks.

Oh, and did we mention that your enduring support also helped us purchase a forever home in Fairfield, Idaho, appropriately named “Hidden Paradise.” We are now able to offer our medically supervised activities and camps in our very own backyard. A dream come true!

This evening promises joy, laughter, and some well deserved fun, as we honor and support the hundreds of campers we serve. We could not provide the gift of Camp without all of YOU. So, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for continuing on this journey with us, and for saying YES.

With love and gratitude,

Kris Nardecchia Co-Founder, Share Your Heart Ball

As Co-founder of Valley Apothecary, Paula Shaffer has been an ardent supporter of Camp Rainbow Gold since moving to the valley in 2011. A business owned and operated by women, Valley Apothecary resonated with Camp Rainbow Gold’s family-centric values and bold focus on community.

In May of 2021, the Shaffer family was shattered by a discovery that would bind them even tighter with the Camp Rainbow Gold family. Two weeks before her pre-K graduation, their daughter Luella was taken to St. Luke’s Wood River ER with a suspected seizure; Luella was a remarkably healthy and spirited 5-year-old with no previous medical conditions. An MRI identified a “mass” on her left temporal lobe and she was transported to St. Luke’s Boise via ambulance. Exhaustive imaging, testing, poking, and pharmacological measures worked to treat the aggressive seizures (from zero to 25+/day) and surgery was identified as the most hopeful. Luella’s determination to graduate pre-K and be reunited with her magnificent brother, Huntley, convinced the neurosurgery team to postpone the surgery for a few days.

Luella returned to Boise the following week to undergo a grueling 9-hour brain surgery and tumor removal. Incredibly, surgeons were able to fully resect the tumor. Subsequent pathology returned another devastating result when the tumor was identified as grade 3 ependymoma, an aggressive cancer of the cerebral spinal fluid. This diagnosis landed the family at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Seattle Children’s Hospital for several weeks of oncology care and daily proton radiation. An additional genetic marker on the tumor required three months of systemic chemotherapy to be added when she returned to Idaho. After months of seemingly impossible days, Luella is now 18 months in remission!

Since diagnosis, Camp Rainbow Gold has been present, offering heartfelt support, hugs, texts, providing invaluable medical resources and welcoming us into our maiden Family Camp, Youth Oncology Camp, and Sibling Camp in 2022.

On July 21, 2021, our Camp Rainbow Gold community said goodbye to a bright light — Heather Feely. If you met Heather once, you instantly felt a connection of warmth, laughter, light and love. To her, you were the only person in the room.

Heather survived two bouts of teenage cancer, and went on to face multiple health challenges over many years. She approached it with the same strength she showed the kids, using her battles for good by offering hope and happiness to a younger generation facing a familiar journey.

Heather gave selflessly to camp, all year long, over two decades. She took on multiple volunteer positions including Counselor, Activity Director, Scholarship Director and Executive Committee member. At one point, camp was short on male counselors for the boys’ cabins. Without hesitation, Heather agreed to assume the role of “male” counselor, quickly earning her the affectionate title of “MR. FEELY!” She giggled when someone called her by that nickname, which stuck until her passing. Her giggle, well that was unforgettable and something she also shared so generously.

As a proud 20 year elementary school teacher, Heather’s passion for education was visible and it was an instant fit when she became the College Scholarship Committee Director. Nothing made her happier than ensuring our kids had a path to continued education, despite the financial hardships surgery and treatments leave behind.

Thank you “Mr. Feely” for the incredible impact you made on the future of Camp Rainbow Gold. Your legacy lives on in our programs, and forever in our hearts.

BRENDAN CHRISTIAN DENNEHY (1969 - 2022)

Brendan Dennehy, affectionately known to many as “B”, lost his courageous battle with brain cancer on April 19, 2022, just a short thirteen months after diagnosis. If you attended any Share Your Heart Ball in the past, you were sure to catch Brendan bustin’ a move on the dance floor til the last song played. He loved this night, and this cause.

Longtime Hailey restaurant owner and Camp Rainbow Gold supporter, Brendan was a genuine friend to everyone he met. His quiet, compassionate manner drew people to him. He was a brother, uncle, son, great friend, business owner, partner, mentor, boss, animal lover, outdoor enthusiast, and proud dad. He is missed forever, most especially by his son Dax whom he shares with Ramie Nelson. Dax was his best friend, the absolute light of his life, and his greatest accomplishment. Their time together was far too short.

As business partner to Share Your Heart Ball co-founders, Kris Nardecchia and Rob Cronin, there’s nothing Brendan and Ramie would say no to when it came to donating resources for the Share Your Heart Ball auction packages. In fact, their Zou 75 restaurant became a HUB for all things Camp Rainbow Gold for two decades. Brendan loved the Camp program so much, he encouraged his late mom SueAnne to spend a week teaching art to the kids in the ‘CRG Art Shack’. It was all in the family.

Brendan never sought the spotlight, despite his Uncle Brian being was one of Hollywood’s most famous A-list actors, or his parents being a permanent part of Hofstra University Theater history. For Brendan, his quiet “good” life in the Wood River Valley, spending time with Dax working on their cars and boats, skiing together on Baldy, or camping at Anderson was exactly where he wanted to be. We love you Brendan - thank you.

REMEMBER THE JOYS OF SUMMER CAMP? LAUGHTER, NEW ACTIVITIES, CAMPFIRES, AND LIFELONG FRIENDS. Now, imagine being told you can’t go. Because you have cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, anxiety, or some other physical, emotional, or medical challenge you never asked for.

In 2019, we purchased 172 acres outside of Fairfield, Idaho. The new home of Camp Rainbow Gold, and Idaho's First Medical Camp. Idaho needs this. Hidden Paradise will be our state’s only medically designed, accessible, and adaptive camp.

Thanks to the leadership of so many — Chuck Graves with McAlvain Construction, Tim Wilcomb with Jordan Wilcomb, the folks at Andersen Construction, Blue Cross of Idaho, Jake Centers with Blackrock, and Carson Palmer to name just a few — not only is the vision for Idaho’s Medical Camp coming to fruition, two years ahead of schedule, we are already hosting our camps and welcoming other nonprofits across the state.

Learn more and get involved at www.healingidaho.org

Live Auction

If you are the winning bidder on a live auction item, it must be paid in full and picked up at the checkout table on the night of the event.

FUND-A-NEED

After all live auction items have been sold, you will have an opportunity to raise your paddle in support of Camp Rainbow Gold’s programs. All pledges must be paid in full at the checkout table on the night of the event.

Auction Rules

All sales are final. There will be no exchanges, unless expressly noted in the auction description. There will be no refunds. Your bid, oral or written, is a legal and binding contract to buy.

All auction items are offered on an “as-is” basis. All descriptions of auction items are for the sole purpose of identifying those items and the seller disclaims any express or implied warranties.

Reservations for trips and vacation accommodations must be mutually arranged between the donor and the purchaser unless otherwise noted. Taxes and tips are not included unless specifically noted.

Airfare is not included unless specifically noted.

The highest bidder acknowledged by the auctioneer or Share Your Heart Ball official shall be the buyer. In the event of a dispute, the auctioneer or auction official shall have the sole and final discretion to determine the successful bidder or resell the item in dispute.

In lieu of a signed agreement, the bidder paddle as announced by the auctioneer to be the winner agrees and commits to paying the said amount in full to Camp Rainbow Gold.

All items must be paid in full and taken home the night of the ball. Payment may be made with cash, credit card, or check made payable to Share Your Heart Ball.

Each bidder agrees to hold Camp Rainbow Gold harmless from any liability arising during the event, as well as its elected and appointed officials, members and employees, the event organizers, sponsors, and volunteers connected with the event.

Unless otherwise specified, all services, trips, and gift certificates must be used by February 18, 2024. All proceeds from this evening benefit Camp Rainbow Gold with a percentage being designated to the Camp Rainbow Gold College Scholarship Fund. You will receive acknowledgment of items that are tax deductible for tax purposes.