SKANEATELES FALLS - Skaneateles resident Mike Hearn believes that Matthew House, an Auburn home for people who are terminally ill, provided him the “most beautiful experience of my life.”

When Hearn's mother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor four years ago, he and his wife, Mary, began investigating hospice care options for his mother's final days. On a whim, Hearn said that he found a listing for Matthew House in the Yellow Pages, so the couple further investigated the facility.

In the end, Hearn's mother died peacefully there after a 10 week stay, and the experience was one that Hearn said will be forever meaningful.

Friday night at The Lodge at Welch-Allyn, where Matthew House held Casino Night, its sixth annual fundraiser for the home.

The black-tie affair, this year billed Shanghai Soiree, was an Asian-themed evening complete with cocktails, dinner, numerous gambling games, raffles and a silent auction.

“Even though there's a lot of glitz and glamour here tonight, the bottom line is that we're raising money to provide people with a wonderful place to go at the end of their lives,” Amy Allyn, a member of the Matthew House committee that organized the festivities, said from The Lodge Friday evening.

The committee decided on an Asian theme for the evening, she continued, for a “change of pace.”

“We've done true Las Vegas, we've done Mardi Gras, and last year was sort of a general theme...we wanted to do something to provide that 'spectacle' to the event,” she added.

There was plenty of spectacle to be seen Friday night, as guests arrived dressed in elegant finery, some even exiting stretch limousines as they entered The Lodge.

As they walked down the flight of stairs into the hall, patrons were given charming Asian takeout boxes filled with casino chips.

The guests used the chips to play games like poker, roulette and craps, the gaming equipment and services provided by Upstate Casino Events of Rochester.

People used their winnings to bid on numerous raffle items provided by local merchants, but the big hit of the evening was the “High Stakes” silent auction, which included items like diamond earrings from Skaneateles Jewelry and spa treatments and dinner for ten people from Mirbeau Inn and Spa.

Another interesting auction prize was a week-long stay at a bungalow on Skaneateles Lake provided by people who wished to remain anonymous.

“I've got my eye on that one,” Hearn said Friday night. “We know the people who own the house ... So I've got some insider information,” he joked.