The Sheep River Health Trust wrapped up it's annual Avenue of Trees campaign with the live auction at the Mistletoe Market on Saturday.

Ten trees were auctioned off at the Okotoks Rec Centre which brought in $9,000. Including the other trees that didn't make it to the live auction it's estimated about $20,000 was raised.

Tanya Thorn, Sheep River Health Trust representative, says there was one tree that seemed to attract the most attention.

"Our fan favourite tree, Everything that Sparkles and Shines by Costco Wholesale, was the high selling tree. It actually sold twice," she explains. "We had somebody buy it then they donated it back to sell it again and we had another lady buy it a second time. By the time it was all said and done we got $2,700 for that tree."

Thorn adds the funds raised are going towards the maternity ward expansion at the High River Hospital.

"We just felt it was a good collaboration for us. There's an awful lot of Okotoks and our catchment area, the Black Diamond and Turner Valley families, that use the maternity ward at the High River Hospital to deliver their babies. I think it's 60% of babies delivered at that hospital are out of our catchment so we wanted to make sure that we provided and contributed to the project."

About 10 trees are being donated back into the community to local families.

Tree deliveries will be made on Friday.

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