Dancing, Dining & Diamonds: Mount Nittany Health Charity Ball Celebrates 75 Years

On Dec. 29, 1948, over 600 people paid $1.20 each to attend the inaugural “Charity Ball and Card Party” at the Nittany Lion Inn. 

According to newspaper reports from the time, the festive holiday gathering was sponsored by the Medical Society, the Centre County Women’s Auxiliary, the State College Area Hospital Auxiliary, and the State College Graduate Nurses Study Club. Tickets could be obtained from “wives of the County physicians,” as well as from drug stores and Auxiliary members.

Featuring music by the Cal Kramer Orchestra from Lewistown, the affair ran from 9 p.m. to midnight and brought in $541 to help pay for the purchase of a new microscope for the Centre County Hospital. 

The Charity Ball has been a staple of the State College social scene ever since, bringing local community members together each year for a glamorous evening of dancing and dining while raising funds for hospital services and equipment.

Evolving Together

While this year’s event is being touted as the 75th anniversary celebration, there is some ambiguity about the year of the first Charity Ball. 

Centre Daily Times clippings from 1948 refer to that Dec. 29 event as the “second annual charity ball.” The prior year, the Medical Society held a Christmas dance “to raise funds for immediate needs at Centre County Hospital.” 

Still, the official history of the State College/College Area Auxiliary records the 1948 event as the first Charity Ball. That is probably because the Auxiliary itself was formed earlier that same year, with 343 charter members. The Auxiliary remained in charge of the ball until 2009, when the Mount Nittany Health Foundation took over.

When the first ball was held, the hospital was located in Bellefonte and was named the Centre County Hospital. In 1972, the hospital moved to its State College location and was renamed the Centre Community Hospital, a name it kept for about 30 years as the facility grew. In 2003, it officially became the Mount Nittany Medical Center.

As the hospital evolved, so did the ball. The event was mainly held as a Christmas gala until it made a shift to February in 1994. The venue itself has varied to include the Nittany Lion Inn, Mr. C’s and Gatsby’s, Toftrees, Sheraton Penn State, Tussey Mountain, and the Penn Stater, and the amount of funds raised each year has grown from $500 to over $200,000. In recent years, themes for the evening have ranged from Broadway and Hollywood to winter wonderlands, African safaris, and evenings in Paris and the Greek isles.

The silver anniversary, number twenty-five, was held in 1972 at the Elks Country Club. The affair featured the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and was chaired by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Campbell and Mr. and Mrs. Shelton Alexander, according to the written history of the State College/College Area Auxiliary. That benefit raised over $10,000 for, once again, a microscope, this time for the Ophthalmology and Otology department. 

The golden anniversary, number 50, was held in 1998 at the Nittany Lion Inn. The event included cocktails, dinner, and dancing, with music by the John Parker Band. Tickets were $125 per person, or $40 per person just for the dance, and proceeds went toward a $20,000 Neoprobe hand-held radioisotope detector.  

‘A Grand, Beautiful Ball’

On Feb. 10, the 2024 Mount Nittany Foundation Charity Ball will celebrate its diamond anniversary with the first return to its traditional format since Feb. 24, 2020, right before the pandemic changed everything.

In 2021, the Foundation held an online drive for donations in lieu of an in-person event, and in 2022, the event was held in May as “Charity at the Ballpark”—an outdoor, casino-themed, relatively casual event at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. With COVID-19 still lingering and the Mount Nittany Health Foundation undergoing major staff changes in 2023, the decision was made to wait until 2024 to resume the tradition.

“We thought it best to take the time to bring it back to the Penn Stater for the 75th and have a grand, beautiful ball,” explains Mount Nittany Foundation Events Coordinator Danielle Michael.

This year’s black-tie event will be held at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center and is expected to sell out at 500 attendees. Proceeds will benefit the Mount Nittany Medical Center’s new 10-story patient tower, slated to open in 2026.

With admission starting at $575 per couple, tickets cost more than the total funds raised at the 1948 event, and, according to Michael, this year’s Charity Ball committee has set an ambitious fundraising goal of $500,000.

Adrienne Eichenlaub, communications strategist for Mount Nittany Health, believes it’s an attainable goal. 

For one thing, she says, the Foundation’s other signature event, the Mount Nittany Golf Classic, had a record-breaking year this fall, raising over $350,000. Also, she says, “We are post-COVID, and I think people are really excited to be back. Plus, it’s the 75th anniversary. I think there’s a lot in our favor.”

In addition, she says, the fact that this year’s committee co-chairs are Penn State’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics, Pat Kraft, and his wife, Betsy, may help achieve the goal. 

For one thing, the Krafts will be hosting an intimate VIP reception featuring Penn State athletic celebrities for an upgraded ticket price prior to the start of the ball. The couple will also be donating some Penn State experiences to be auctioned off. Most of all, Eichenlaub says, the Krafts are bringing a fresh perspective and a high level of enthusiasm to the cause.

“It was a really great opportunity because they’re so new to the community and they’re trying to be more involved, and it is just a really good fit to connect Penn State and the local health system,” Eichenlaub says.

Betsy Kraft agrees.

“[President and CEO of Mount Nittany Health] Kathleen Rhine approached us last spring with the idea [of co-chairing the event], and we were all in,” she says. “I am really excited that my husband and I are able to be part of such an amazing event.” 

Kraft says the rest of the committee, which includes Susan Brown, Melissa Hawbaker, Genevieve Hulburt, Dr. Kristie Kaufman, and Nancy Silvis, has been hard at work since the summer.

“Our committee is just the best,” says Betsy Kraft. “I think what is so special about our group is that we are a perfect mix of veterans and newbies to the Charity Ball. … I personally think we have a rockstar collaboration going on.” 

“The committee is really committed to the cause and just making sure that the 75th is the best,” adds Eichenlaub. “We really just want to celebrate the impact of past charity balls and contributions to the medical center. So we are going big this year.”  

In keeping with this year’s diamond anniversary theme, Kranich’s Jewelers will be donating jewelry to the event’s auction and will also provide a “jewelry experience,” showing off some of their jewelry that will be for sale during the evening, with some of the proceeds going to the Foundation.

Daniel Vaughn Designs will be “transforming the space for us, creating an elevated experience,” Eichenlaub says. Vaughn’s business will not only be supplying floral arrangements and decorations, but he’ll also be designing the layout of the venue, she says. Rather than a formal, sit-down dinner with assigned tables, the format will be more of a reception-type atmosphere, with a wide variety of seating and standing areas, including high-top tables, couches, and special reserved seating areas for event sponsors. 

The design will leave plenty of room for a spacious dance floor and a big stage to hold Monte Carlo, a 10-piece band from Philadelphia that will be providing the music for the night.

Dual Purpose

As a completely local and independent health care system, Mount Nittany Health relies on financial support from the community, which is really why the Charity Ball exists. 

 “I’m not sure that people always appreciate what it means that Mount Nittany Health is independent. It’s not tied to some big corporation in another city. Your dollars stay local; they help your family, your parents, your grandparents,” says Eichenlaub.

This year’s beneficiary, the 300,000-square-foot patient tower, is one of the most significant projects undertaken by the hospital in its history. When completed, all of Mount Nittany Medical Center’s patient rooms will be single-occupancy. The addition will include telemetry capabilities, outpatient clinics, point-of-care registration, a modernized data center, staff amenities, improved storage, outdoor spaces, and enhanced dining.

“The Charity Ball will help offset the cost of the actual construction of the tower, but it is mostly helping to fundraise for the equipment needed to run the services that will benefit each and every one of us at some point in our lives,” says Betsy Kraft. “Being able to receive the care that we need here in State College, rather than having to go to Danville, Hershey, Pittsburgh, or Philadelphia, is such an important part of keeping our community healthy.”

To achieve its fundraising goals, the event relies on corporate sponsorships as well as ticket sales. It also will feature an online auction, a live auction, and other ways to donate to the cause. 

While fundraising is certainly the main objective of the event, Eichenlaub says it also serves another important purpose.

“Part of what makes the Foundation successful is helping to connect the medical center with the community,” she says. “The Charity Ball is a nice opportunity for the community to come out and get to know us, rather than waiting until they’re in need of our services.”Besides, she says, “How many times in your adult life do you get to get dressed up [and] have a night out with your spouse or your friends, knowing that you are participating in something much bigger than you, and that your ticket cost is going toward something phenomenal?” 

75th Annual Mount Nittany Health Foundation Charity Ball

Celebrating a legacy of community impact with event proceeds benefiting the new Patient Tower at Mount Nittany Medical Center

Saturday, Feb. 10, 6 to 11 p.m.

The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center

Tickets:

• $575 per couple
• $750 includes two tickets to a cocktail reception hosted by Pat & Betsy Kraft, Charity Ball committee co-chairs
• Individual tickets are available

Sponsorship opportunities range from $5,000 to $25,000.

Non-attendance sponsorship opportunities also available. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit foundation.mountnittany.org/events and click on “Charity Ball.” T&G

Karen Walker is a freelance writer in State College.