Events
Mayfaire 2024: Supporting Gift of Life and the Patients Who Need a ‘Home Away From Home’
Our 25th year celebrating the joy of giving and the power of philanthropy at Mayfaire, Benefis Foundation's signature fundraising event.
Golf, Gala, and Gift of Life: Donors Show Their Support for Rural Patients at 25th Mayfaire
The Benefis Health System Foundation announces today that the recent Mayfaire fundraiser netted more than $720,000 for renovations at Benefis Gift of Life Housing.
“I hope patients who need to stay at Gift of Life will feel the outpouring of love we saw at Mayfaire,” said Jami Wald, Benefis Foundation chief operating officer. “We know it is hard to travel when you are ailing, and it was wonderful to see donors step up for our neighbors from across northcentral Montana and beyond.”
Because of donor support, Gift of Life is able to provide patients traveling for medical treatment a free place to stay on East and West campuses in Great Falls. The houses have been well loved by thousands of guests during the last three decades and need repairs and refreshes to continue to be a welcoming place for those in need.
Kaelianna Ryan of Montana City helped rally donors by sharing her story of turning to Gift of Life during cancer surgeries.
“It was stressful having to travel so much,” she said. “When I stayed at Gift of Life, I felt so grateful sitting on that chair knowing donors made this possible.”
David and Tanya Cameron
This year’s Luminary Award, a recognition of those “whose generosity, leadership, and vision shine a bright light in our community,” was presented at Mayfaire to David and Tanya Cameron.
The award recognized their impressive record of community involvement and philanthropy in Great Falls and beyond, as well as their passion for healthcare. Tanya Cameron has been on the Benefis Foundation and then the Health System board for 17 years, and she reads stacks of research every week for the role. David Cameron has been a committed supporter of the McLaughlin Research Center and ran a pack of “research cowboys” on the family ranch while teaching biology at Montana State University.
The 2024 Mayfaire fundraising tally is the third highest in 25 years of the event. The fundraising record remains the more than $1 million in 2022 benefiting Benefis Sletten Cancer Institute revisions, and last year’s Mayfaire raised another $925,000 for the SCI project, which is underway. Gift of Life also was the beneficiary of the first Mayfaire, which raised more than $15,000 in 2000.
“Donors, sponsors, and volunteers have built Mayfaire into an event that’s so fun it’s anticipated all year, and it’s become a weekend that makes a generational impact on healthcare for northcentral Montanans,” Jami said.
“Donors helped expand the Emergency Department at a crucial time, establish the Women’s and Children’s Center, and prepare Sletten Cancer Institute for the next decades of patients, and much more,” Jami added. “Now they are making a profound difference for patients traveling for care with their support of Gift of Life.”
Work just finished on the East Campus Gift of Life, which provides convenient access to Benefis Sletten Cancer Institute for cancer patients recovering from chemotherapy before driving back to Shelby,
Lewistown, Big Sandy, and beyond. It’s also a refuge for parents tending to a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and patients coping with other medical challenges after traveling for treatment.
As guests return to Gift of Life on East Campus, Benefis Foundation marks the halfway point of the Gift of Life fundraising campaign and will continue to fundraise for the project through 2024. To learn more about the project and ways to help, visit Benefis.org/GiftofLife
Supporting Benefis Gift of Life Housing
Since 1992, thousands of patients have found comfort and peace at Gift of Life Housing as they navigate bumps in the road that require traveling to Great Falls for medical treatment. Thanks to donor support, no patient pays to stay at Gift of Life.
Donate to Gift of Life
2024 Mayfaire Supporters
We are beyond grateful to the sponsors, donors, and businesses who are supporting Mayfaire 2023 and the renovations of the Sletten Cancer Institute.
Paramount
Sletten Construction Company
Premier
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana
Wells Fargo
Platinum
Central Plumbing Heating Excavation
Contract Flooring Carpet One
Falls Mechanical Services
Guy Tabacco Construction Company
Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips
Steel Etc.
Vizient
Wakefield & Associates
Gold
Cushing Terrell
D.A. Davidson
Dick Anderson Construction
Fisher's Technology
McLean & Associates
Moss Adams
National Laundry & Dry Cleaners
Scheels
Silver
360 Business Solutions
Aon
Brentwood Services Administrators, Inc
Cascade Electric
City Motor Company
Cogswell Insurance Agency
Credit Associates
Crowley Fleck
First Interstate Bank
Independence Bank
Junkermier, Clark, Campanella, Stevens
LPW Architects
Metro Aviation
Moderne Cabinet
Northern Montana Health Care
Pathwise Group
Stockman Bank
Taylor Luther Group
TC Glass Distributors
United Materials
Vemco
Western Office Equipment
Signature Drink Sponsor
ClearBalance
Table Sponsor
Aero Air
Centron Services
Comparion Insurance Agency
Double Barrel Coffee House Cafe
Eagle Beverage
Homegrown Dental
Nordic Global
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine Montana
Raffle Sponsor
Independence Bank
Montana ExpoPark
Forde Nursery
In-Kind Sponsor
Advanced Litho Printing
Benefis Community Care
Thomas Cuisine
