Celebrating Senior Champions

The Place: The Omni William Penn grand ballroom, Thursday night.

The Pupose: To recognize individuals and organizations for their efforts to enrich and enhance the life of seniors in Western Pennsylvania during the ninth annual “Celebrating Senior Champions” dinner and to benefit the UPMC Senior Communities Benevolent Care Fund.

The Party: The event presented by The Aging Institute of The University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Senior Services began with a cocktail reception and a large silent auction. There also was a Glitz in the Glass: hidden in a champagne glass was a $5,000 diamond give-away. A Mystery Grab Bag raffle was for gift cards for shopping and dining. WQED’s Rick Sebak emceed, introducing president of UPMC Community Provider Services Deborah Brodine, who welcomed everyone to the dinner. The Grand Champion Award was presented to Dr. Arthur Levine by Dr. Steven Shapiro. Karen Wolk Feinstein was honored with the Community Champion Award, and Dr. Eric Rodriguez was presented with the Caregiver Champion Award.

The People: “This is the biggest yet,” said Ms. Brodine of the dinner. Nearly 575 guests showed they cared about creating a better life for seniors in our region. Among them were the director of the Aging Institute Dr. Toren Finkel with his wife Beth Rosner, former Grand Champions Dr. Neil Resnick, Dr. Loren Roth and Dr. Charles Reynolds III, event organizer Debra Panei, Dr. Mamta Bhatnagar and her husband Dr. Kristian Feterik, Andy Giambroni, Clay Jacobs, Gail Roddie-Hamlin, Dr. Fred Rubin, Diane Geisler, Dr. Judy Black and Adriane Deithorn.

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