October 5, 2007

Mercy CEO Gives Up Women’s Night Out Raffle Prize; New Winner Drawn

When the names of the two grand raffle prize winners were randomly drawn at Mercy’s Women’s Night Out on Thursday night, Paul Dougherty, the hospital’s own president and CEO, was the astonished winner of one of the prizes, an all-inclusive, 8-day cruise.

When contacted with the news that he had won the prize, Dougherty promptly donated it back to the Women’s Night Out committee so someone else would have a chance to win it.

On Friday, organizers of the event drew the name of another winner from all of the raffle tickets, which they had retained.

Susan Green of Sioux City was the new and final winner of the Carnival cruise to the Carribean, Key West, Cozumel and Grand Cayman (including airfare and gratuities) donated to the event by Nancy Huseth of Creative Travel.

When called with the good news Friday morning, a very surprised Green said she attended Women’s Night Out for the very first time ever on Thursday, and bought just a single raffle ticket.

Kathy Sitzmann of Merrill, Iowa, won the other grand prize, a one-of-a-kind omega necklace with diamond pendant that was custom-made for Women’s Night Out by Gunderson’s Jewelers.

Three thousand women attended Mercy’s seventh annual Women’s Night Out on Wednesday and Thursday night. A total of 1,512 tickets were sold for each of the two evenings. Those tickets were sold out in just over an hour.

Women’s Night Out, the biggest annual event for women in the Siouxland region, seeks to promote the health and well being of women in a luxurious, experiential fashion.

The eighth annual edition of the popular event is slated for Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, 2008 at the Sioux City Convention Center. Tickets will go on sale next August.