Airdrie Health Foundation

The Challenge

The Airdrie Health Foundation was established after a five-year-old boy named Lane Bates became suddenly and seriously ill during the night in 2009. Because Airdrie has no 24-hour emergency medical care, it was impossible for Lane’s parents to access the necessary medical help in time to save their son. Lane’s mother, Michelle Bates, co-founded the Airdrie Health Foundation to prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies. The Foundation works toward improved access to emergency services for the community and area, through advocacy and awareness, the creation of facilities, and collaboration with health care providers and policy-makers for a seamless and integrated health care system in Airdrie.

To rally the Airdrie community and raise funds for its programs, the Airdrie Health Foundation planned its first-ever fundraising event for September 2014. To support the event, Bates and her team needed advertising materials and event collateral including tickets and a program for the evening.

The Solution

RedPoint was given almost complete creative freedom to design a ticket, program and two versions of a poster — one to promote the black tie gala, and one for attendees to take as a souvenir.

The Airdrie Health Foundation advised our creative team that the event, called “Light Up the Night,” would feature circus performers and use a purple colour scheme. We incorporated these elements into the design. After experimenting with several versions, we settled on a graphic that evokes a number of childlike delights such as fireworks, flowers, sparklers, wheels and lights. Each sparkler has 24 spokes to represent the 24 hours of a clock. On the poster and program, the sparklers emerge from a pair of hands, echoing the existing Airdrie Health Foundation logo and communicating themes of community and care.
Once the primary design was in place, RedPoint edited the program copy and designed the four-page program, a perforated ticket and two versions of the poster.

The Results

The Airdrie Health Foundation held its first fundraising gala at Airdrie’s Chinook Winds Fire Hall on Sept. 27, 2014, and it was an unqualified success. The sold-out evening was a rallying place for the community and its supporters, with speeches from Bates and Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown, as well as Airdrie’s MLA and the senior vice-president of Alberta Health Services. Even better, the Airdrie Health Foundation surpassed its fundraising targets, raising more than $100,000 in a single evening.