The North Texas Medical Center (NTMC) Foundation will debut a new fundraiser in February that is sure to be one of the most fun nights of the year.
NTMC’s Lip Sync Battle is scheduled for Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Gainesville Civic Center. The night will include a catered dinner, unlimited drinks, vacation raffles, live and silent auctions and, of course, a lip sync competition.
For the past three years, Dancing With Our Stars has helped the NTMC Foundation raise $600,000 toward the purchase of a Cardiac CT machine for the hospital. But a pivot to a new event was needed.
“Honestly, it was getting difficult to find contestants willing to get up and dance in front of 400 people,” NTMC Foundation Executive Director Darin Allred said jokingly. “For some reason, a lip sync performance seems less intimidating. I think this is going to turn out to be just as entertaining as our past events. Our seven teams have some really fun performances planned.”
As with the dancing competition, contestants will earn votes based on money donated to each team. The People’s Choice Trophy is given to the team who raises the most money. Voting is already underway and will continue through the night of the competition. The Golden Mic Trophy will go to the best performers, as chosen by a panel of judges at the event.
People can donate toward their favorite team at www.ntmcfoundation.org. That is also where folks can see the featured teams, buy tickets to attend the event and buy raffle tickets and bid on silent auction items once the auction opens on Feb. 1. Bidders do not have to attend the event to participate in the silent auction and raffles.
Tickets for the event are $100 each. During the competition, several vacation packages will be auctioned off. Last year’s auction winners won trips to Italy, Mexico, New York City and Nashville.
The Lip Sync Battle will be this year’s major fundraiser for the Heart of NTMC Campaign which started in 2023 to bring a Cardiac-capable CT machine to the hospital.
“This latest imaging technology costs $1.25 million,” said Allred. “The Foundation has financed the purchase, so now we are raising money to pay that off. Now that the machine is installed, local residents won’t have to drive 30-plus miles or more for these important scans.
“In addition to doing scans of the heart, it can also be used for regular CT scans when needed, which would double our capacity. That is huge when, for instance, a stroke victim comes into our Emergency Department. That lessens the chance that our one CT machine will be in use when needed for an emergency.”
This year’s competition is again made up of local contestants, many of them representing Cooke County businesses.
“Their performance is completely up to them,” Allred said. “In the last three years, we have seen a little bit of everything from our competitors. They are very creative. I know this year will be a lot of fun.”
This year’s featured teams who will be competing on Feb. 27 consist of:
Darin Allred and Barry Otts, representing North Texas Medical Center and Otts Furniture respectively.
Callie Boxell, Aracely Cruz, Brenna Grewing and Haley Vesperman, representing First State Bank.
Corey Hardin and Laurel Anthony, representing Gainesville ISD and North Texas Land and Home.
Lainey Buck, Chealsey Cox, Sarah Hill and Kacye Vann, representing North Texas Nutrition and Wellness.
Matt Compton and Haley Kubis, representing Select Water Solutions.
Kristy Emberton and Brandi McLean, representing Tierra Real Estate.
Jocelyn Haynie, Haley Hughes, Taylor Luna and Shea Shaffer, representing Trident Process Systems.
Seating is limited for the event, so attendees are encouraged to purchase tickets early. This fundraiser always sells out weeks before the event. Sponsorships are also available which come with a table of 10.
For more information on the Lip Sync Battle benefitting the NTMC Foundation, contact Darin Allred at (940) 612-8460 or by email at [email protected]
