An everlasting gift that was initially thought to take ten years to come up with has been completed in half the time.

On Tuesday, the St. Elizabeth's Ladies Auxiliary made the final payment for a $100,000 endowment to the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation.

The endowment, named the St. Elizabeth's Ladies Auxiliary Centennial Cardiac Endowment will allow heart health to continue to be maintained in the area.

"The foundation is very appreciative of the Ladies Auxiliary's $100,000 donation," said HDHF Executive Director Lorrie Bunko. "Now that they have reached their goal, we will be able to spend the accrued interest off of that endowment."

In 2012, the Auxiliary was looking to celebrate their 100th anniversary with different ideas, ultimately settling on the $100,000 goal according to Bunko.

"I remember in 2012 when they came to me and said this is what they want to do. A lot of them were apprehensive because $100,000 seems like a lot of money," she explained. "I remember telling them 'don't sell yourselves short'. You should have seen their faces and the excitement when they realized this was going to be done before the ten years."

Bunko says that there are options for how they can use the money, including pooling it for future use.

"We don't have to spend it annually, so we have some ideas of where we will be putting that money," she noted. "We know that we need a new ultrasound within four years. With the ultrasound, we provide echocardiogram services, so we should be able to get a few thousand dollars within those four years for that."

Over five years, fundraisers for the Auxiliary have included bake sales, chocolate almond sales, raffle tickets, barbecues and other donations.