Kathy Potente presents Bill Alley to Judge Michael Parlier for sentencing.
Fellow employees come by to offer money to keep Bill Alley in jail instead.
Relay for Life’s Amy Cothren helps Michael Parlier with collecting the bail money.
Hugh Chatham CEO David Loving is a busy man. He came to the jail with his bail donors already listed and ready to pay.
David Loving poses for a photo in the jailhouse.
Hugh Chatham raised “big bucks” for Relay for Life Friday.
Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital took an unusual and novel approach to raise money for the Relay for Life campaign.
Community members, volunteers, and hospital employees took turns going to jail Friday to ask for bail money, which was then turned over to the charity.
Not actual jail, though.
Eleven different people took turns Friday in a wooden “jail” set up in the lobby of the hospital’s main entrance. The theme came complete with a judge, Michael Parlier, and a bailiff, Kathy Poteate. The two visited various offices in the hospital and took the “offenders” into custody as part of the “Jail and Bail” event.
Poteate went further than that. She and Parlier created fake charges for each person, then brought them before the judge for sentencing. Bail was set between $100 and $1,000 per person. Each was given a phone book, and as the barred door closed the people began making their “phone calls.”
- Missy Church, Radiology Director was charged with “smiling too much”
- Bill Alley, Surgery Director was charged for “having too many ‘cuts’”
- Lestine Hutchens, Mayor of Elkin was charged with “carrying the key to the city”
- Vicky Dinkins, Administrative Assistant was charged with “you deserve a break today”
- Robin Hobbs, Switchboard Operator was charged with “staying on the phone too much”
- Carson Pittman, Volunteer was charged with “bluelight syndrome”
- Mike Stanley, HCMH Board Member was charged with “too ‘board’”
- Lindsay Smith, HCNC Administrator was charged with “trying to be a change agent”
- David Loving, CEO was charged for “being married to the ‘best sweetheart’”
- Phyllis Lowe, Volunteer was charged with “being a great volunteer”
- Michael Wilson, Manager of Fairfield Inn was charged with “too many overnight guests”
Wilson first introduced the idea to Poteate, who then modified it to fit the hospital’s schedule.
Due to the hectic and unpredictable nature of a hospital, Poteate had to leave out one portion of the fundraiser. Some versions let a person put another person in jail for one amount, then makes the person in jail pay the bail like normal. But for the hospital’s employees there was no way to interrupt a surgery or a consultation, so the former part of the program was left out.
Poteate hoped to raise $2,000. At the end of the event, more than $4,000 was raised. The money goes toward the Relay for Life’s event at Elkin High School on May 3.
To contact Taylor Pardue call 336-835-1513 ext. 15, or email him at tpardue@civitasmedia.com.
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