For a decade now Eric Herl and Brenda Devine have been lighting up the 100 Mile District General Hospital each Christmas with the Starry Nights lights display.
Held every year as a fundraiser for the South Cariboo Health Foundation, Starry Nights has become a staple of the community raising thousands of dollars for hospital equipment each year. Before the light-up in November, Devine, the foundation’s fundraising coordinator, sits down with Herl and his son Wyatt to discuss the design for the new display.
“I create the displays and coordinate Brenda to find out whatever new stuff she comes up with and I try to make it happen. Then I troubleshoot it through the winter,” Herl said. “Originally it was just the stars but now we’ve gotten into bells, doves and we have a rocket ship this year. It’s just slowly getting bigger (all the time).”
Devine said she and Herl tend to meet up in the summer to plan out the display, with Devine ordering new lights in August to ensure they arrive in time. She said they do their best to stay local by working with Home Hardware, noting that originally a Vancouver-based company did most of the work with Herl’s assistance before he took it on fully.
“Eric is quite modest. He and Wyatt are very talented and I wouldn’t be able to do this without someone like them,” Devine said. “I don’t put one string up, I just work on the concepts. He does all the extremely amazing work. I’ve heard of other places that put lights up and it takes them months while Eric and Wyatt get it up in a really timely fashion.”
Before he started building and designing the Starry Nights light display, Herl was experienced working with Christmas lights in his own yard, where he has a huge display to this day. That experience gave him skills that he’s scaled up for Starry Nights, such as building custom wooden frames to house the more intricate light designs.
“It’s something you got to enjoy. My son enjoys doing it with me too,” Herl said. “It’s probably about 200 hours to set it all up. There’s probably 10,000 lights up there.”
After weeks of hanging lights from the walls, building and mounting frames and ensuring everything lights up properly Herl said he always feels a sense of accomplishment when he surveys the hospital at night. There are always nerves and things that go wrong, but watching it come to life is all worth it.
“(I hope people) come out and enjoy the lights, that’s what they’re there for,” Herl said.
Devine agreed, remarking it’s a joyous feeling to see her vision come to life with Herl’s help. By working together she said they always make her ideas better.
Since Starry Nights began Devine said the fundraiser has raised close to $6-million for a variety of hospital equipment. This year they’re raising $80,000 for the purchase of a new Space Labs Health Care Exhibit Patient Monitoring All-In-One Computer system. This system will allow nurses to monitor up to four beds remotely, freeing up staff and improving patient care.
So far Devine said they’re well on track to meeting their goal this year. As of the publication of the article, she said they’ve raised over $50,000 and are still accepting donations into the new year.
“We want to raise more because, as we all know, medical supplies are outrageously expensive. It’s not like we can go down to Ma and Pa joint to pick up a bedpan or an IV stand. We try and bump it all up so we’re covering any additional costs that might come our way,” Devine said.
This year will also mark the last one Devine will organize as she plans to retire in 2024. Devine said she has loved her time working for the health foundation and will always be around to help out, but it’s time for someone new to take the lead.
“It’s not Brenda who runs the show,” Devine said. “I’m glad I work with (people) like Eric and Wyatt.”
Donations are accepted online via southcariboohealthfoundation.com, by physically mailing in a cheque to Bag 399 100 Mile House, V0K 2E0 or by just dropping cash off at the hospital’s reception desks. Donations will be accepted this year until Jan. 31.
