Stars come out for David Foster event
David Foster, whose Victoria-based foundation raised $10.2 million at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on Saturday, says he plans to keep hosting fundraisers to help Canadian families.
The David Foster Foundation’s Victoria-born namesake said he’s even considering a return to his hometown in for one last celebrity softball tournament fundraiser for old time’s sake.
“That’s not off the table completely,” said the 16-time Grammy Award-winning musician, whose foundation’s inaugural fundraiser in 1986 was the first of five celebrity softball tournaments held in Victoria.
Foster’s celebrity supporters on Saturday included Oprah, Dr. Phil, Steven Tyler, Jay Leno, Goldie Hawn, Reba McEntire, Cee Lo Green, The Tenors, Matteo Bocelli, Laura Bretan and B.C.’s Carly Rae Jepsen.
The glitzy David Foster Foundation Miracle Gala and Concert marked the 30th anniversary of the foundation that provides assistance to families with children needing organ transplants.
A gala dinner was attended by 850 guests, with the concert itself attracting 9,000 attendees.
Brian Mulroney, whose son Ben Mulroney co-hosted with HLN’s Michaela Pereira, was among celebrities who first stepped up to the plate for Foster at Royal Athletic Park in 1986.
“I can’t see myself doing that now,” the former Canadian prime minister told reporters on the purple carpet before Saturday night’s gala event.
“Maybe that’s how we should finish in Victoria, because that’s how we began,” said Foster, reflecting on the softball games whose players included Rob Lowe, Michael J. Fox, John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.
Foster said he has been hesitant about the possibility of reviving the softball tournaments, and not just because putting them together was “such a huge pain in the ass” logistically.
“We were so much younger then, and maybe bolder in terms of trying to get 30 celebrities here every year,” he said. “We wouldn’t maybe raise as much as we could, but it would be great way to return to our roots.”
While Foster took some heat for relocating his fundraisers from Victoria to Vancouver and other urban centres before returning here for the 25th anniversary Miracle Concert in 2012, he said it made economic sense.
“We had been helping kids from all over the province but we were only getting money from people in Victoria,” he said. “We realized it was an unfair burden on the [Victoria] community.”
If there was a celebrity softball fundraiser comeback in the capital region, it wouldn’t signal the end of the foundation’s fund-raising efforts, he emphasized.
“This charity’s not going anywhere. We’ll be here long after I’m gone,” said Foster, who has increased his goal to establish an endowment fund from $30 million to $50 million by the end of 2018.
“After I do a big fundraiser in L.A. and a few more, we’ll get very close and relax a bit,” he said. “I remember our low point when we only had $49,000 in the bank and I thought ‘I better get on a mission here.’ ”
He said the foundation underwent a “major shift” seven years ago when Michael Ravenhill came on board as CEO and Jim Treliving, Levi Sampson, Jeffrey Latimer and other heavy hitters joined the board.
“We went into high gear because we were really in a low gear for awhile and it was nobody’s fault but my own,” he said, noting “the need is just too strong” for the foundation to stop now.
“One hundred years from now, what happens to that money, I don’t know,” he said. “All I know is I won’t be here to worry about it.”
Ravenhill said he and Foster had been talking up the 30th anniversary event for the past two years, crediting Paragon Gaming co-founder Scott Menke with giving them what they needed to get it rolling.
“We were in Italy over two years ago in a cocktail lounge and Scott was telling us about his new Vancouver property [Parq Vancouver casino resort] and we were blown away,” Ravenhill recalled.
“We said, ‘What if we did a grand opening in conjunction with our 30th anniversary? The timing was perfect. He said ‘Let’s do it.’ It was win-win.”
The new entertainment destination is home to JW Marriott Parq Vancouver. The 281-room resort and its sister hotel, the Douglas, were presenting sponsors of the event.
Foster’s track record of lending his name and talent to fundraisers for other celebrities’ charitable foundations helped ensure the calibre of talent that stepped up, Ravenhill said.
“People believe in the cause and the foundation and want to lend their names and support, but these are also friends of David who are giving back,” he said.
Foster had flown to Vancouver from Toronto, where on Oct. 17 he participated in a Horatio Algier Association of Canada fundraiser.
As part of Foster’s weekend gala, Jim Pattison and Walter Schneider were honoured as recipients of the David Foster Foundation Visionary Awards, which recognize humanitarian achievers.
The awards themselves have been meticulously handcrafted for the past seven years by Victoria artist Maarten Schaddelee at his own expense, Ravenhill said.
Pattison and Jim and Sandi Treliving donated $1 million during the event.
During a fundraising pledge drive, dozens of attendees also joined Oprah, Tyler and Dr. Phil in helping 10 families for one year, or a $100,000 commitment.