Continuing in their ninth year with the tradition, the Community Hospice & Palliative Care foundation hosted their Derby Run benefit on May 1st, coinciding with the 147th Kentucky Derby.
Guests and sponsors were invited to dress in their best derby outfits (floppy hats highly recommended) and join the foundation at Tringali Barn in St. Augustine for an evening of food, fashion, and fun.
Community Hospice & Palliative Care was founded in 1979 and is an innovative national leader in palliative and hospice care, as well as providing programs and services to meet the diverse needs of the communities it serves. Over its 42-year history, the foundation has served over 220,000 adults and children in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties, while recently adding an additional 11 counties to that roster in addition to Gainesville, Lake City, Palatka and their surrounding communities. The foundation says they are committed to improving the quality of life for patients and their families.
The recent Derby Run was the foundation’s first in-person event since the pandemic began, and assistant executive director Janet Reagor said that finally seeing each other again was a feeling like no other.
“It was truly [incredible] just being around friends again,” she said. “It was so good to see people and see that they are doing okay.”
Guests placed bets on horses competing in the Derby as early as April 27 and bet all the way through the end of the racing. Along with the betting and a small silent auction, guests could also honor a loved one with a donation to the Horse Shoe Society, which allowed them to hang a horse shoe or a ribbon on a decorative door with their loved one’s name on it. Altogether, the 2021 Derby Run raised nearly $45,000, which will go directly towards benefiting seniors in the community, and over the past nine years of derbies the foundation has raised almost $420,000 total.
“It could not have been a nicer evening,” said Reagor.
