In a “Wonderland” straight from the pages of Lewis Carroll, about 810 people gathered Saturday night at the biggest fundraising event of the year for St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor.
Eastern Michigan University’s Convocation Center was full of characters from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” thanks to the work of Kelly Sorini, chairwoman of the event for 2012 and wife of Dr. Ernie Sorini.
The St. Joe’s Holiday Ball raised more than $735,000 for the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
The funds will be used to purchase new convertible incubators and warmers for the unit. The NICU at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor cares for about 575 premature and critically sick newborn babies each year. The hospital sees a total of 3,600 births annually.
Each year, the St. Joe’s Holiday Ball has a different theme and the funds raised at the event go to a different department in the hospital. In 2010, the event raised $860,000 for the patient towers project at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor.
Photographer Daniel Brenner captured these images from the event.