ENA Foundation.
One item in the 30th Anniversary Virtual Silent Auction to support the ENA Foundation is sure to cause a few double takes this week — not because of what it has but because of what it lacks.
The framed black and white photograph of rock band ZZ Top shows Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill without their signature beards that fans associate with the iconic rock band.
“You don’t see many photos of them, especially Billy Gibbons, clean-shaven,” said photographer Steve Snow, who is married to ENA Foundation Chairperson Sally Snow.
Hill’s death in July adds to the demand for early photos of the band. Steve Snow snapped his image at a 1972 concert at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, as a teenager volunteering with his school newspaper.
“This was a fundraiser event that ZZ Top was putting on,” Steve Snow said. “I made myself a cheesy press pass, and I was able to get access into the orchestra pit of the venue, and I just happened to get some good shots.”
Fast forward almost 50 years and Steve Snow, the 2021 recipient of the ENA Behind the Scenes Award, is combining two of his ongoing pursuits — photography and supporting his wife — with his donation to the auction.
“I’ve always thought supporting endeavors that Sally is associated with is very important,” he said. “We all need our nursing community and to help out wherever we can.”
Steve Snow’s ZZ Top photo is one of nearly four dozen items up for bid, including designer bags, smartwatches, regional snacks and spirits, jewelry and one-of-a-kind art pieces, to raise money so the ENA Foundation can continue its work supporting emergency nurses.
“Everything the foundation does to fundraise supports conference and academic scholarships for emergency nurses,” Sally Snow said. “It supports emergency nursing research, and we have for the last two years had a COVID-19 relief fund.”
Donations have enabled the foundation to give 470 individuals $599 each in financial assistance during the pandemic.
Since 1991, the foundation has awarded $4.1 million in scholarships toward nursing degrees and $369,000 toward continuing education opportunities, as well as $568,000 in research grants.
The foundation’s global outreach includes funding for international members to attend conference through the Jeff Solheim International Fund and Karen Jansky-Koll Fund.
Silent auction bidding is open and accessible online. Descriptions for all auction items are available here.
Many of the offerings were curated by ENA state councils to represent their home states. Tennessee whiskey, Oregon wine and authenticated turquoise Navajo jewelry from Arizona are on the auction block.
So are multiple homemade quilts.
California ENA State Council Fundraising Chairperson Diane Schertz donated a quilt she made in honor of the association’s 50th anniversary last year. The quilt top chronicles the history of ENA through pieces of 50 shirts from annual conferences, leadership symposia and other events Schertz has attended throughout her 35 years of membership.
“The purpose of the organization, when it first formed, was to provide education for nurses working in emergency departments and to advocate for the profession, so that’s where I focused the shirts I used,” she said. “I also tried to include all the cities where we have held our annual meetings.”
Past association logos dating back to its inception as the Emergency Department Nurses Association anchor each corner of the quilt, and the current ENA logo takes a place of honor in the center of the design. A 50th anniversary blanket sold by ENA in 2020 serves as the backing.
Schertz, who put six weeks of work into the quilt — stabilizing the cotton fabric of the T-shirts, measuring, mapping out the final design, cutting and sewing — dedicates her labor of love to the memory of a dear friend and one of ENA’s co-founders, Judith Kelleher.
“She meant the world to me, and I just want to carry on her legacy,” Schertz said. “I want to dedicate this quilt to her and all that she did for emergency nursing.”
Separate from the silent auction, Texas ENA is offering a chance to win a commemorative quilt with a $5 donation. The patchwork piece, also made in honor of ENA’s 50th anniversary, features T-shirts and other fabrics representing each state council and the international nursing community. Donations for a chance to win the quilt can be made online.