Best Buddies Canada Gala
"There's something special about this woman," Norman Jewison said at the 20th-anniversary Best Buddies Canada Gala on Sept. 10, recalling his first impressions of Goldie Hawn, the Oscar-winning bombshell who was in Toronto to accept the charity's International Humanitarian Leadership Award. Moments later, the celebrated director presented Hawn with the prize, given to her in recognition of her contributions to the well-being of children and youth. "Compassion doesn't come easily to kids today," Hawn told a crowd of 300 at the Carlu, the downtown event space. "You have to help build it." The founder of Best Buddies International, Anthony Kennedy Shriver, son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver (who founded the Special Olympics in 1968) and nephew of the late U.S. president John F. Kennedy, was on hand to extol the virtues of the organization, which helps foster long-lasting friendships between students and people with intellectual disabilities. Best Buddies Canada was established in 1994 by Daniel J. Greenglass and Penny Shore; they and co-chair Rene Pantalone raised $1.42-million through this year's affair.
Beat Goes On Gala
On Sept. 13, the Palomino Room inside Calgary’s BMO Centre was the site of the Beat Goes On Gala, a sold-out evening of music and fundraising in support of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. Co-chaired by Ken King (president and chief executive officer of the Calgary Flames) and Tony Dilawri (partner at the Dilawri Group of Companies), the event raised $750,000, which will be used to recruit leading cardiovascular researchers and help complete a state-of-the-art cardiac operating room in the McCaig Tower at Foothills Medical Centre. Juno Award winner Chantal Kreviazuk held court centre stage with Our Lady Peace front man (and husband) Raine Maida, while Pierre Lamielle, the celebrated chef, cookbook author and illustrator, was on kitchen duty.
