A ROYAL TOUCH AT PALLIATIVE CARE GALA
West Island Palliative Care Residence executive director Teresa Dellar, right, chats with royal couple Peter and Autumn Phillips at a gala fundraiser at Château Vaudreuil for the facility. Autumn grew up in Pointe-Claire.
The West Island Palliative Care Residence added royal sparkle to its annual Valentine’s Ball on Feb. 12, thanks to a surprise visit from former Pointe-Claire resident Autumn Phillips, and her husband, Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips and the eldest grandson of Queen Elizabeth II.
The royal visit suited the British theme of the 17th annual ball at the Château Vaudreuil hotel.
The royal couple joined West Island VIPs and other supporters of the palliative-care centre as special guests of the fundraising event. Among them were West Island mayors, local members of Parliament and MNAs, and sports celebrities, including former Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo and retired boxer Otis Grant.
“This is our biggest fundraising event of the year,” said Joanne Myers, director of development for the palliative-care residence.
Organizers raised a record $500,000 at this year’s event, which is the biggest single share of the $3 million the residence must raise every year to support its work. Last year’s gala raised $445,000.
The Valentine’s Ball drew proceeds from ticket sales, on-site donations, and a live and silent auction.
Items up for bid included passes for Montreal Canadiens luxury suites at the Bell Centre, spa treatments, and use of sports cars and luxury vehicles.
In keeping with the British theme, the event venue featured Union Jacks, London’s iconic red phone booths and banners with slogans “Keep Calm, Carry On” and “London Calling.” The Royal couple added a touch of authenticity.
“It’s sort of a running joke between us,” said Doug Bellevue, a longtime supporter of the palliative-care residence, and a past chair of the gala. “Every year I sit down when the gala comes up and I say OK, what’s the theme? And let me help out.”
When organizers said it would be London, “I jokingly said you’ve either gotta get The Beatles or the Royal Family. We sort of laughed and I said, ‘What about Autumn and Peter?’”
A longtime friend of Autumn Philips (formerly Kelly), who grew up in Pointe-Claire, and her family, Bellevue thought the fit would be perfect, as long as the visit suited the royal couple’s travel plans.
Autumn “comes back quite often to visit her parents and family,” Bellevue recalled, explaining the timing to attend the ball, and witness the work at the palliative care centre worked out perfectly.
This year’s ball, which welcomed 515 guests, sold out two months in advance.
“The presence of the royal couple was a happy surprise for everybody,” Myers told the Montreal Gazette.
“It was a very touching moment when she (Autumn) spoke as a West Islander, and she had visited the residence with her husband, Peter Phillips, on Friday morning,” she said.
More surprising — and gratifying — to directors of the residence is the generosity of donors and everincreasing success of fundraising efforts every year, Myers said.
“There’s a lot of talk about palliative care and end of life right now.”
Housed in two facilities in Kirkland and Pointe-Claire, the West Island Palliative Care Residence accommodates about 380 patients a year, who have an end-of-life prognosis.
The residence accommodates adult patients of all ages. Average stays are about 18 days.
“It’s all about making people as comfortable as possible, as painfree as possible, in the best of circumstances,” Myers said.
A total of $3 million of the residence’s $4.8-million annual budget comes from corporate, private and individual donations, she said. The provincial government covers the remaining $1.8 million.
This is our biggest fundraising event of the year. JOANNE MYERS, director of development, West Island Palliative Care Residence