With fire balls whipping around her head and torso, flames licking her red sequined bodysuit, a Cirque Phoenix performer earned rapt attention from a black-tie audience at the Calgary Hyatt Regency last Friday night. The impressive display, one of several by the acrobatic team, was a welcome respite from the distressing cause that brought 350 guests together for the Starry Starry Night Gala and Auction this past weekend: type 1 juvenile diabetes.
The sixth annual gala to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) attracted guests from every corner of the country, and the corporate landscape. Tables of ten were purchased for a donation of $2100 each, with major banks, law firms, and telecommunications companies nabbing many of them.
“This is a city that really gives back,” said marketing consultant Kelly Moi. She was accompanied by Gerry Albert, partner at property and commercial law firm Masuch Albert LLP. During the live auction portion of the gala, Mr. Albert won the right to name a star in the sky for a donation of $2600; a prize donated by the Societe Betelgeuse Ltee.
Megan Davidson, the chief operating officer of JDRF, flew in from Toronto specifically for the event. She was seated with Harold P. Milavsky, chairman of Quantico Capital Co. and an individual donor of ten years, and Bryan Haynes, partner at Bennett Jones LLP, one of the major corporate sponsors of the event. Senior vice president of TD Canada Trust Prairies Region Ron McInnis and his wife Carol Lee McInnis, both originally from PEI, attended the plush affair, as well as Telus director of product marketing Rob Tasker and his wife, Lee Tasker.
Making waves were Bob and Betty Schulz, a building contractor and owner of Commitments Lingerie respectively, who bid competitively on half the items in the silent auction and won the largest item at the live auction: a return trip to Vancouver for a salmon fishing excursion and two-night stay at the Hyatt Regency.
Guests were treated to a glittering emcee in local television personality Nirmala Naidoo, a rousing country-style performance from Las Vegas singers Mollie and Jackie, a delectable three-course meal with free-flowing wine , and a dynamic performance from Cirque Phoenix (west-coast based former members of Cirque du Soleil). Between each course and performance, bids were collected on the silent auction items and stories were told by those whose lives have been touched by juvenile diabetes. On each table was a card with a number, the story of a young life struggling with the disease, and a startling fact about juvenile diabetes. So despite the wonderful hospitality, food, and entertainment, no one could forget what they had paid for – a cure.
Published in the National Post, October 4 2008
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