TOLEDO, Ohio — You can have a ball tonight and help the American Heart Association's mission of raising awareness and funds to fight heart disease and stroke.
Mindy McCarthy, VP of business development with Waterford Bank, will serve as chair for the American Heart Association’s 2019 Toledo Heart Ball.
The Heart Ball is Friday night at the Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel. The event, hosted by WTOL anchors Melissa Andrews and Andrew Kinsey, opens at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour and silent auction. A formal dinner and program will begin at 8 p.m. followed by live entertainment and dancing. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.toledoheartball.heart.org or call Jessica Hover at 419-740-9666.
The Heart Ball is the American Heart Association’s black-tie social event that celebrates the lifesaving achievements of local physicians, philanthropists and volunteers committed to helping the association fulfill its national goal to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent and to reduce deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by the year 2020.
“The event gives us the platform to highlight the many stories of lives saved and improved because of everyone’s effort,” says McCarthy. “Toledo Heart Ball has raised millions for research and education initiatives and has changed the lives of countless families living in Northwest Ohio. I’m excited to be working with the American Heart Association to turn heart distress to heart success,”
This year’s event will honor Sharleen Suico, M.D., rehabilitation physician with Rehabilitation Hospital of Northwest Ohio & UTMC, with the Pulse of Toledo award recognizing her significant contributions to cardiovascular research and care and changing the culture of health in Toledo.
The 2019 Heart Ball will also celebrate the survival stories of Rory Yoakam, 10-month-old congenital heart disease survivor, and Chris Jones, a 41-year-old runner, who is a sudden cardiac arrest survivor.
In addition, the Heart Ball will feature a live and silent auction and dancing and live music by Arctic Clam.
With a goal of $200,000, all funds raised will support cardiovascular and stroke research, education and advocacy efforts to combat the nation’s No. 1 and No. 5 killers – heart disease and stroke, respectively.
Additionally, each guest is asked to bring a new/unused sports ball to the event. The American Heart Association is teaming up with local sponsor, First Solar, and a local school district and all of the balls collected will go to the school to help get their students get physically active.