Chinese community raises $3,371,688 for hospital
EXTRA CARE: Stella Chan and Jane Young ’s Chinese New Year resolution duplicated 2017’s: Make a ton of money for the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation. They nailed it. The For Children We Care gala they co-chaired and that Young ’s brother Ben Yeung ’s Peterson Group sponsored reportedly raised $$3,371,688 — up $836,404 from 2017. The money will aid the $12 million required to fund the hospital’s Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children Enhancement Initiative. That facility “will help revolutionize care for children with developmental and significant rehabilitation needs,” said foundation president-CEO Teri Nicholas. She also thanked “the Chinese community for leadership, and longtime commitment to excellence in pediatric health care.”
TRY AGAIN: Longtime B.C. Children’s Hospital benefactor Stephanie Carlson might not have been at the For Children We Care gala — or anywhere, in fact — had her parents not overcome their first meeting ’s chill. It was 1939 in Qualicum when newspapering family scion Gordon Southam approached forestry mogul H.R. MacMillan’s daughter Jean. “Were you at the party at the weekend?” he asked. “I gave it,” she replied frostily. Married in 1941, he cared for her devotedly until his death at age 87.
SCADS FOR PADS: The lunar Year of the Dog began with the Love of Dog gala filling the Hard Rock Casino’s Molson Canadian Theatre floor. Lady Luck smiled on smartly jacketed Labrador dogs and puppies who already enjoy or will train for interesting work with the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society. Lucky, too, are those humans to whom fully trained and certified service or hearing dogs are assigned. Folk with physical difficulties usually gain life-changing independence from having such constant canine companions. Children also develop confidence from dogs who support them unwaveringly. The second-annual event supported Burnaby-based PADs (pads.ca), where training sponsorships range from $4,000 to $20,000 and executive director Laura Watamanuk shares an office with retired breeding dog Pepper.
TAKING STEPS: Love of Dog banqueters also danced to the Dr. Strangelove band that was founded 175 dog years ago in 1993. Sidestepping songs like That Doggy In The Window, Hound Dog and Who Let The Dogs Out, the band belted out repertoire that echoed its 16-year stint at Granville Street’s The Roxy dance-can. They’ll lace up their rugby boots at B.C. Place March 10-11 for gigs at the HSBC Canada Sevens World Rugby tourney. Perhaps they’ll rehearse Tom Jones’ ever-popular rugbyfan song, Delilah. Then again, Sir Tom may sing it himself at Jacqui Cohen’s Face The World gala here June 4.
PERFECT PITCH: Redolent of the Dragons’ Den TV series, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs members Julia Dexter, Nicole Smith and Valerie Song competed for a $25,000 prize at the Odlum Brown FWE gala’s recent Pitch for the Purse tourney. Judges and gala attendees awarded the investment cash to Smith, who founded the professional-vacation-photographing firm Flytographer (so much for phonecamera selfies). FWE itself was founded by Odlum Brown VP Christina Anthony whose career was partly sparkplugged by Deans Knight Capital Management principal Wayne Deans. He mentored her in UBC’s Portfolio Management Program that, following his $2.2-million donation, is now the Sauder School of Business’ Wayne Deans Investment Analysis Centre. His best advice, Anthony recalled: “Be patient and look for value.” TEASE TO PLEASE: B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation benefited when the Beauty Council Western of Canada organization staged Show It Off in the Vogue theatre. Fronted onstage by Avant Garde hair-studio owner Jon Paul Holt, the concert-like event had stylists and salons present sometimes-towering coifs on models wearing dramatic and even burlesque costumes. Featuring both, Joan Novak’s Whistler-based JoNo salon sent out bride-look-alikes attired from the post-apocalyptic to the classical mode, albeit much abbreviated. Titanium Studios’ Anthony Caspillo added showbiz pizzazz with long-braided, young dancers weaving between his much taller models. Audience members applauded, as the hospital’s benefiting, but necessarily absent, patients might have done, too. WOOD STILL FIRING: At the Terminal City Club in 2016, former Microsoft executive John Wood reportedly raised $1 million to support Room To Read. He’d cofounded that international organization to support children’s literacy and access to books. Wood soon provided 20,000 libraries with 16 million books and published 1,000 titles, including his own Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. Maintaining that theme, he returned to launch his and Amalia McGibbon’s Purpose, Incorporated: Turning Cause Into Your Competitive Advantage. It supports Wood’s disbelief “that purpose and profits are somehow antithetical” with a late chapter that warns: Mean it! The Dangers of Paying Lip Service. Similar ethics pertained in the post-Reformation 16th century when responsible lay persons adopted hitherto ecclesiastic duties. They continued with the boom in 19th-century philanthropy that led to the likes of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Wood himself is motivated by former Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer’s motto: “GSD: Get shit done.”
SETTING IT STRAIGHT: Lorne Segal’s subsequent services aside, the Courage to Come Back Awards’ founding 1998 chair was Shirley Broadfoot.