Sun King Warriors member Jim Donovan plays the guitar at the Patched Together event last year. Courtesy photo

For 15 years, the Patched Together fundraiser has “felt like a big hug from people who have walked in your shoes,” said Kent Tonkin, president of the Healing Patch, the organization that benefits from the annual event.

This year, live entertainment, food, activities and a basket raffle will be available at the Bavarian Aid Society, 112 S. 13th St., Altoona. The event is slated to run from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22.

“It’s a fun, lighthearted event, and we’re bound by one common thing: We have all lost someone,” he said.

Proceeds help support the Home Nursing Agency’s Healing Patch, an organization that offers free services to grieving children and parents across Blair and Cambria counties.

Programs include school support groups, grief education and workshops, according to Healing Patch coordinator Melody Ray.

Volunteer coordinator and grief specialist Shalen Steinbugl said these programs help grieving families understand that “hope and healing are possible.”

Because all services are free, Ray said the organization survives through donations, fundraisers and volunteer work.

“The Healing Patch Children’s Grief Program could not exist without the ongoing financial support of the community, such as fundraisers like Patched Together,” she added.

Since 2011, Patched Together has raised more than $170,000 for the Healing Patch.

These events “empower people to put energy into resources they care about,” Tonkin said.

Steinbugl said they’ve raised “a lot of money” for the organization.

From local bands to community volunteers, she said the Patched Together fundraisers bring community members together for one cause.

The event also brings in a long line of sponsors, both new and familiar with the fundraiser.

Many people lost loved ones to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tonkin said, so sponsors themselves may feel a connection to the cause.

Big-ticket basket raffle items include a one-night stay in a family suite at Great Wolf Lodge, four tickets to a University of Pittsburgh men’s basketball home game and a $1,000 package valid at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort.

For event admission, guests can either pay the $5 fee, wear a Patched Together T-shirt or bring a nonperishable food item to donate at the event for free admission. All donated food items will be distributed to local food banks.

Anyone 12 years or younger is admitted free of charge.

Tonkin said these options can help those suffering from food insecurity, adding that the organization’s attitude is to “solve more problems than one.”

“We’re so thankful they’re helping us and the community,” Steinbugl said.

Entertainment Saturday includes Bruce Schettig, Open Ends, Autumn Rising and Sun King Warriors.

Music is a motivator to Tonkin, who lost his mother the Friday before Thanksgiving years ago. She gave him his first guitar.

“She gave me the experience of music, and the people I have met through music would have never come into my life without my mom,” he said, adding he “can’t think of a better way of being alive than to sing.”

The Patched Together fundraiser is a fun time for both children and adults, Steinbugl said.

With one floor of the hall dedicated to live music, food and a basket raffle, another section will be allocated for children’s crafts and activities.

Anyone interested in music or basket raffles will have fun, Tonkin said.

“We have to invest in the things we care about,” Tonkin said. “If people are benefiting from a service that helps them, then we as a community need to speak up for those things.”

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.