For Woodland Jewellers’ Geoff Bourdon, he always enjoys taking in the extravagant, annual Cariboo Foundation Hospital Trust Gala (CFHT) … once the grand prize raffle winner is announced, that is.
“I’m always nervous until the winner is drawn,” said Bourdon, who has designed and donated a pendant for this year’s raffle. “I want whoever wins it to wear it. I want them to love it.”
In all, 10 one-of-a-kind pieces of jewellery have been created by Bourdon since 2009 for the annual raffle to raise money for the Cariboo Foundation Hospital Auxiliary. The collaboration between Woodland Jewellers and the people of Williams Lake has raised $104,500 with all the money staying locally to help purchase a digital mammography machine, CT scanner, echo cardiogram and a hematology analyzer. This is the 11th year Woodland Jewellers has been doing the raffle and they hope this year to add another $11,000 to that total.
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This year, Bourdon is offering the exquisite pendant that features a 14mm golden pearl with 1.61 carat total weight (ctw) of diamonds in 18K yellow gold with a handcrafted wire basket in platinum.
Bourdon said he enjoys the challenge of designing a piece for the community every year and spends months thinking of the perfect design before getting to work on it.
For this year’s pendant, after revising the sketches to the final design, Bourdon searched for the special golden pearl and the various shades of cognac and fancy yellow diamonds to accent the centerpiece.
He estimates he spent an additional 36 hours actually handcrafting the classic piece.
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“It’s hard to design a piece when I don’t know who’s getting it,” said Bourdon, noting he pushes his skillset with every new gala design.
This Nov. 23 the Cariboo Foundation Hospital Trust Gala will be held at the Sacred Heart Hall with the draw for the pendant, valued at $9,950, to be held at 9 p.m. when one lucky winner will hear the news from Bourdon himself that they won the prize.
There are still tickets available for purchase at Woodland Jewellers, where the pendant is also on display. Tickets for the pendant draw are $20 each.
The annual, popular gala, meanwhile, has been sold out for months.
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