Black Tie Event To Benefit Make-A-Wish

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A southern Utah surgeon is throwing a big, gala fundraiser for a great cause. And readers of The Progress are being cordially invited to attend the event.

Desert Bloom Plastic Surgery in St. George is hosting a black tie event called “Help Them Bloom” on November 19 at 6 pm at 610 Tech Ridge Drive in St. George. All proceeds of the event will benefit the Make-A-Wish Utah organization.

“Help Them Bloom” will include a catered formal dinner in a beautiful setting overlooking the St. George cityscape. There will be live entertainment by Dueling Pianos, a luxury auction and even an after party for VIP guests featuring live entertainment and dancing.

“We have pulled out all the stops on this event,” said Dr. Jordan Wallin, owner of Desert Bloom Plastic Surgery. “We have hired a party planner who has done years of work for KSL as a main event planner and has planned hundreds of events like this every year. It will be quite an experience!”

Wallin said that he hopes to bring a lot of joy to children through hosting this event. For over forty years, the Make-A-Wish foundation has fulfilled thousands of life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
“We are hoping that this event will help us fund several kids’ wishes in the area,” Wallin said.

As a surgeon specializing in facial reconstruction, Dr. Wallin has done a lot of charity work for less fortunate children in various places in the world. He has taken several trips to the Dominican Republic to help children there with all sorts of surgeries like cleft palate reconstruction, repairing various facial injuries and more. He also has done charitable work for children as a clinician in Winston Salem, North Carolina while he served on the Wake Forest University faculty.

Since moving to St. George, Wallin said that he had been looking for more charitable work that he could do to give back.
“My wife and I have asked ourselves, ‘What are we doing for the community?’” Wallin said. “And we realized it wasn’t as much as in North Carolina. So we began looking at different opportunities. We stumbled upon the Make-A-Wish Utah organization and it seemed like a fit.”

They decided to host this formal dinner event, planning a total of around 200-250 people to be in attendance. They have since been trying to spread the word about it.

“I have a lot of patients who come from Mesquite,” Wallin said. “We attended the Sun City Business Expo a couple of weeks ago and talked to probably 200 people and gave out invitations. We had very positive feedback from a lot of people who were excited about it.”

Those wishing to attend can reserve individual seats or by purchasing an entire table for friends and family.
“We see it as a great outing for a group friends,” Wallin said. “People could buy a table and bring four couples up with friends to help in this good cause. All of it is going to a 501c3 nonprofit, so it is a good tax writeoff as well.”

Wallin said that he has even had business owners want to make “Help Them Bloom” a holiday party for their employees.
“We have had one business owner buy two VIP tables for his employees to attend,” Wallin said.

Many area businesses have also donated numerous items for the luxury auction. These include all expense paid trips to various places as well as merchandise and other items which will be auctioned both in live auction and silent auction formats.

For more information and to register for tickets, go to HelpthemBloom.org.
Donations may also be made at the same website for those who are unable to attend the event but still want to help.