History
This year, Celebrity Luncheons proudly celebrates 25 years of partnering with Sacred Heart Visiting Nurses & Hospice to provide health care and other necessities to those in need.
In 1980, the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of Lehigh County (later the Visiting Nurses Northeast), which at the time was not affiliated with any hospital in the area, formed an auxiliary group to help raise money for the VNA. Many different fundraisers were held, but one in particular, a celebrity luncheon, took flight in 1984.
The concept involved inviting celebrities to speak at a luncheon held four times per year; members would pay a subscription fee to attend all four luncheons. The Celebrity Luncheons program was tremendously successful since its inception, and the program boasted 500 members at one time.
Funds raised from membership fees went to the VNA for pediatric health care services, until, due to changes in the health care system, the original VNA eventually disbanded and Sacred Heart HealthCare System absorbed many of the VNA employees in 2000. Funds raised from the Celebrity Luncheons program have since been donated to Sacred Heart Visiting Nurses & Hospice for pediatric health care services.
