Hosted at Dr. Mark Clark’s Willow’s End mansion on Lake Martin, a gala evening featuring The Dueling Pianos, dinner and live and silent auctions raised more than half of the cost for Russell Medical’s new MRI equipment. Russell Medical Foundation Executive Director Tammy Jackson said pledges for donations of $613,000 were secured at last month’s invitation-only “Reflections on Lake Martin” event.

“The price of a new magnetic resonance imaging machine is $1 million-plus, and it’s just amazing that we were able to get commitments for more than $600,000 of that. The most we have raised at events like this in the past was $270,000,” Jackson said. “This community has truly stepped up for our hospital.”