What would have been the 12th edition of the Little Princess Ball, a glittery, sugary, magical yearly fundraiser on behalf of the Moose Jaw Health Foundation (MJHF), has been in jeopardy since October — and is now officially cancelled.
“We did announce on our Facebook page (on October 14, 2022) that we were looking for committee members in order for the ball to go ahead,” explained Elaine Crocker, the Little Princess Ball committee chair.
“We had three people step forward, which is not enough to make it happen. … And unfortunately, for this year, the time-frame is not there.”
The Little Princess Ball began in 2009 and has had a major impact on the Women’s Health Unit at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital, buying beds, heart monitors, incubators, and many other items over the years. The 2022 edition of the Ball raised financed the purchase of another much needed isolette incubator for the unit.
The ball is usually held at the Heritage Inn, with food, crafts, activities, sparkly decorations everywhere, and volunteers dressed as Disney characters for pictures and dancing. Children and their parents dress up too, creating a dreamlike atmosphere that lights up the children's eyes and imaginations.
Crocker said that she and her team endured two years of strain during the pandemic and had to cancel the event in 2020 and again in 2021. After bringing it back last year, they made the collective decision to hand the reins over to a new team.
“After last year’s Princess Ball, we all as a committee took the summer off, because it was a stressful two years waiting for COVID to let us happen again. And when we met after the summer, we as a committee decided that it was time for other people to take over and bring something new to the plate.”
Kelly McElree is the executive director of the Moose Jaw Health Foundation. He said the committee have been putting in tremendous effort for over a decade and have accomplished wonderful things.
“They’ve put their hearts and souls into the event, and for so many years,” McElree said. “We’re just eternally grateful that they’ve been able to have such an impact on the Women’s Health Unit at the hospital, and paediatrics in general. … It’s such a magical event for parents and their children.
“What it’s really about now is new people stepping forward to create the next chapter in this wonderful story.”
Crocker compared the planning process of the Ball to that of an “over-the-top” wedding and said it takes the 10 to 12 people on the Little Princess Ball Committee six months of hard work to make it happen.
“As time goes on, families evolve and situations change and they get older, and your commitment time is not there anymore,” she explained. “Six intense months is what we put into the ball. It’s a lot, it’s like doing a wedding! An over-the-top wedding, with a whole lot of children involved.”
Since the cancellation announcement on Facebook on Feb. 20, Crocker said many people have reached out to ask how they can help. It will take a whole new committee to keep the event going, she noted — at least 10 people — but all the support and information is available to bring them up to speed.
“We have all the information that they need, like where we did our sourcing, the best place to buy (all the supplies), we have all that information,” Crocker said. “We’re all still here, and we’ll be setting them up for success.”
“Every single room of the Women’s Health Unit has been helped by the proceeds from the Little Princess Ball,” McElree said. “It’s impacted thousands of women and babies.
“We ask that any interested person get in touch with Elaine through the Princess Ball Facebook page, or contact the Moose Jaw Health Foundation and we’ll forward their name along.”
The MJHF Little Princess Ball official page is facebook.com/thelittleprincessball. They can be emailed at thelittleprincessball@gmail.com, and the MJHF is at Kelly.McElree@mjhfoundation.ca.
