Vancouver Sun

CITY’S CHINESE COMMUNITY AIDS B.C. KIDS’ HOSPITAL

Reported record $4.1 million raised at 24th annual For Children We Care gala

- MALCOLM PARRY malcolmpar­ry@shaw.ca 604-929-8456

ANOTHER RECORD: First-time co-chairs Carman Chan, Isabel Hsieh and Pao Yao Koo hit a home run when the Chinese community’s 24th annual For Children We Care gala raised a reported record $4.1 million. That will go toward a $14-million campaign for relocating the developmen­t-and-rehabilita­tion Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children to the B.C. Children’s Hospital’s main campus. Last year’s event brought in close to $3.4 million, which exceeded 2017’s total by $836,000. Contrastin­g the hospital’s fiscal prudence, the gala’s theme was Versailles, the extravagan­t palace and estate that helped bankrupt 18th-century France and send King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette to the guillotine. Conductor Ken Hsieh and the Metropolit­an Orchestra entertaine­d gala-goers with music from Parisian Jacques Offenbach’s 1858 Orpheus In The Underworld that also enlivens the cancan dance. Happily, the gala’s fundraisin­g co-chairs proved that they could-could and did-did.

FOR PAINT JOBS WE CARE: Open Road auto dealer Christian Chia showed a $500,000-range RollsRoyce Cullinan SUV at the For Children We Care gala. Viewers included the event’s third-time presenter, Peterson developmen­t firm executive chair-CEO Ben Yeung. Few buyers of the off-road-capable Cullinan would likely subject its flawless, porcelain-like surface to damage along bush-and-rock-flanked trails. Ditto when parking by night in certain DTES zones, including one where developer-to-be Yeung located his fresh-from varsity dental practice.

STARRED: Local self-made billionair­e Jim Pattison and entertaine­rs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have received Hometown Stars from the Canada Walk of Fame organizati­on. The local ceremony followed a flossier one in Toronto where Paul Anka and investment­s supremo Warren Buffett serenaded Pattison with Frank Sinatra’s My Way. Rogan and Goldberg were lauded here by fellow walk-of-famer Howie Mandel. Also by teacher Mike Keenlyside from Point Grey Secondary, where their stars will be embedded. Of their alma mater, “Everybody needs to know that Seth was a dropout and didn’t graduate,” Goldberg cracked. When John Oliver Secondary grad and legendary toiler Pattison was asked if he really ought to be at work during daylight, he replied: “The answer is: Yes.” As for working for Pattison as former NDP premier Glen Clark does, successor John Horgan said: “I’ve got a job right now, but that’s an option.” That option would doubtless pay more than his current $205,400.16 salary. Meanwhile, Horgan and others might heed Pattison’s words: “Do the little things well and the big things will follow.”

BEAR FACTS: Another billionair­e hit town recently. That was Seaspan Marine Corp. head Dennis Washington whose US$6-billion range net worth is close to Pattison’s but whose 332-foot yacht Atessa IV overpowers the latter’s 150-foot Nova Spirit. Washington arrived for the premiere of Great Bear Rainforest, an Imax movie executive-produced by his son and Seaspan ULC executive chair, Kyle Washington. Its director, Ian McAllister, met the younger Washington three years ago at a luncheon for the Pacific Wild Foundation that McAllister co-founded. Rather than convention­al digital shooting, three-decade Bella Bella resident McAllister argued for Imax’s costlier 70mm film system that promises worldwide access to young audiences. The picture’s own young characters include Mercedes Robinson, who lives in Klemtu (pop. 350) and retrieves DNA from trees where bears scratch themselves. Of her debut movie role, Robinson said: “You can get a lot of informatio­n from bears … who are guardians of the ecosystem and have the ability to make it thrive and make the land more healthy.” When grown up, “I hope to provide informatio­n to the younger generation so that they protect the ( bears’) territory and save it from those taking it from them.”

NEED FOR SPEED: B.C. Women’s Hospital Foundation president and CEO Genesa Greening and board chair Karim Kassam reported $300,000 was raised at the recent Illuminati­ons luncheon. That’s where guests were illuminate­d regarding thousands of women plagued by slow-to-diagnose health concerns. A tenfold increase in research funding is said to be needed to address complex chronic diseases that are up to nine times likelier to affect women than men.

MEADOW MONEY: Attending the luncheon, the B.C. lieutenant­governor and former Women’s Hospital Foundation board member Janet Austin called the hospital’s researcher­s “some of the best in the world.” Then, pointing to retired Vancouver police inspector Bob Usui, one of her 35 ceremonial aides de camp, she told guests: “People think he is the lieutenant-governor, not me.” Her joke likely reminded some of an earlier LG, David Lam, who claimed that children sometimes misheard his title as “left-handed governor.” As for research funding, Austin sounded in tune with rancher predecesso­r Judith Guichon by saying: “Money is like manure — no good if it isn’t spread.”

NEW CARR: Bonhomie, not money, was spread on Great Northern Way recently with Gillian Siddall’s induction as Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s second president and vice-chancellor. She succeeds 22-year incumbent Ron Burnett who oversaw the much-enlarged academy’s move from Granville Island.

DOWN PARRYSCOPE: Feb. 23 is Internatio­nal Dog Biscuit Day or, for humans taking a mouthful, World Sword Swallowers Day.

 ?? PHOTOS: MALCOLM PARRY/SPECIAL TO PNG ?? Klemtu resident Mercedes Robinson appears in Ian McAllister’s Imax movie, Great Bear Rainforest. Her research duties include securing DNA left behind by bears scratching trees.
PHOTOS: MALCOLM PARRY/SPECIAL TO PNG Klemtu resident Mercedes Robinson appears in Ian McAllister’s Imax movie, Great Bear Rainforest. Her research duties include securing DNA left behind by bears scratching trees.
 ??  ?? Entertaine­rs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg received Canada Walk of Fame stars that will be embedded at their Point Grey Secondary alma mater.
Entertaine­rs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg received Canada Walk of Fame stars that will be embedded at their Point Grey Secondary alma mater.
 ??  ?? B.C. Women’s Hospital Foundation CEO Genesa Greening and board chair Karim Kassam fronted a $300,000 fundraiser for chronic-disease diagnosis.
B.C. Women’s Hospital Foundation CEO Genesa Greening and board chair Karim Kassam fronted a $300,000 fundraiser for chronic-disease diagnosis.
 ??  ?? Longtime Bella Bella resident Ian McAllister directed — and Seaspan principal Kyle Washington executivep­roduced — the Great Bear Rainforest Imax film.
Longtime Bella Bella resident Ian McAllister directed — and Seaspan principal Kyle Washington executivep­roduced — the Great Bear Rainforest Imax film.
 ??  ?? Carman Chan, Isabel Hsieh and Pao Yao Koo chaired a Versailles-themed gala to raise a reported $4.1 million for the Sunny Hill Centre for Children.
Carman Chan, Isabel Hsieh and Pao Yao Koo chaired a Versailles-themed gala to raise a reported $4.1 million for the Sunny Hill Centre for Children.
 ??  ?? Aide de camp and former city police inspector Bob Usui escorted Lt.Gov. Janet Austin at a B.C. Women’s Hospital Foundation fundraiser.
Aide de camp and former city police inspector Bob Usui escorted Lt.Gov. Janet Austin at a B.C. Women’s Hospital Foundation fundraiser.
 ??  ?? Hometown Star recipient Jim Pattison was feted by Premier John Horgan but hasn’t hired him to a top job as he did for predecesso­r Glen Clark.
Hometown Star recipient Jim Pattison was feted by Premier John Horgan but hasn’t hired him to a top job as he did for predecesso­r Glen Clark.
 ??  ?? Howie Mandel and chef-restaurate­ur Vikram Vij attended a ceremony for Jim Pattison and entertaine­rs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Howie Mandel and chef-restaurate­ur Vikram Vij attended a ceremony for Jim Pattison and entertaine­rs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
 ??  ?? Gillian Siddall was installed as president and vice-chancellor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s False Creek Flats campus.
Gillian Siddall was installed as president and vice-chancellor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s False Creek Flats campus.
 ??  ?? Third-time For Children We Care gala presenter Ben Yeung saw Open Road dealer Christian Chia display a $500,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV.
Third-time For Children We Care gala presenter Ben Yeung saw Open Road dealer Christian Chia display a $500,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV.
 ??  ??

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