Foster celebrates 30 years of galas
David Foster, whose Victoria-based foundation raised $10.2 million at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on Oct. 21, 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 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 cohosted 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.