Heart of Fashion Gala 2016 – North York General Hospital Foundation

Heart of Fashion 2016 Raises $1.2 Million for North York General Hospital Foundation
On Saturday, May 14th, 2016, nearly 700 of Toronto’s socialites and fashionable guests attended North York General Hospital (NYGH)’s highly-prized fundraiser, Heart of Fashion. Guests enjoyed a fun-filled evening of food, fashion, music, and philanthropy. This year’s gala raised a stellar amount of $1.2 million, where the proceeds will be directed to the construction of a new state-of-the-art Interventional Radiology (IR) Suite at North York General Hospital. The Interventional Radiology Suite at NYGH will be a huge leap forward in utilizing image-guided technology to diagnose and treat diseases in nearly every organ system. The new technology will result in less surgery, more specialized care, and improved outcomes for patients in comparison to open surgery.

Victoria Secret lingerie

(photos by Tanya)

The fundraiser was held in a ravine in the upscale Bridle Path neighbourhood. Arriving the ravine was a long way, but the complimentary host bar, specialty cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres from Pusateri’s compensated for the location. During the cocktail reception, guests bought raffle tickets for some really good prizes, including a $20,000 necklace from Carole Tanenbaum and a gift certificate to TNT.

During the evening, iconic TV personality Jeanne Beker graced the stage as the emcee for the evening. While on stage, she shared the heartbreaking story of the loss of her mother and expressed her gratitude to North York General Hospital for the compassion and care that her mother received shortly from the doctors and staff at the hospital shortly before she died. A short video presentation on Interventional Radiology followed Jeanne Beker’s opening address. The video gave a timeline of diagnosis detection from 1975 to the present. The video shows how an Interventional Radiology suite would be a huge step forward in diagnosing and treating diseases from the days of patients undergoing painful open surgery in diagnosing their ailments. After the video, the surprise musical guest appeared on the stage. All 700 guests erupted in applause when Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew took to the stage. He performed two songs, cracked some raunchy old people jokes, and auctioned off his acoustic guitar to raise funds for North York General Hospital Foundation.

Then there was the live auction. This particular live auction featured four extravagant and glamourous prizes: a trip to Galapagos archipelago for two; a Leafs Dream Game Day Experience for four people; 2017 trip package to the Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia; and two tickets to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2016 and the VIP after party. There was even a surprise item thrown in the auction, which was a pair of platinum tickets to game seven of the NBA playoffs to watch the Raptors play against the Miami Heat.

Jeanne Beker

Victoria’s Secret lingerie

This year’s Heart of Fashion event also showcased the top five designs in the inaugural Fabricland Scrubs Design Challenge Fashion Show. In an effort to connect to a new generation of philanthropists through fashion, the finalists were challenged to create an haute couture gown where 50% of the material must consist of hospital scrubs. Yanis Allen from the Toronto Film School was the grand prize winner for her structured black-and-white gown. The gown will be displayed in the TNT store windows for a limited time.

The evening concluded with a fashion show curated by TNT (one of the event’s major sponsors), music, late night treats from Pusateri’s, and mingling under the stars.

For more information about the Heart of Fashion gala, please visit their website at www.heartoffashion.ca. In the meantime, scroll through the pictures at the bottom to see all of the glamour and fun from that night!

(to see the complete photo album, please visit our Facebook page)