GREAT TASTE: Brenda Currie fronted her fifth Taste for Life: An Evening To Conquer Oral Cancer at the Terminal City Club. It celebrated the very sense that could be lost if severely afflicted with oral cancer — our ability to taste. The charity dinner, which attracted 250 guests, featured the talents of two award-winning chefs: resident chef Greg Van Poppel and celebrity guest chef Vikram Vij. The latter spiced things up during the live auction when his exclusive chefs table dinner for six at My Shanti in Surrey hauled in $20,000. The record bid helped propel the gala’s final tally well beyond the $100,000 mark. Proceeds will support designated oral cancer clinics at UBC and Surrey, and continued research of the lesser known, but often-deadly cancer. Heavy drinking, smoking and oral sex are high risk factors for oral cancers.
SERVICE PROVIDER: Community leader and philanthropist Shirley Barnett was feted at the Jewish National Fund’s annual Negev Dinner, chaired by Ilene-Jo Bellas and Bernice Carmeli and emceed by Shane Foxman. The event saw 600 guests including Premier Christy Clark squeeze into the Four Seasons Park Ballroom to honour the former social worker for her years of activism and service. On this occasion, Barnett was rallying support for a $1.5 million Israeli shelter for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. Upon completion, the Vancouver-funded home will provide a dozen families a safe space to start over again. Singing Barnett’s praises was the evening’s keynote Ruth Rasnic, whose organization NO to Violence Against Women currently runs three emergency shelters in Israel.
GO FISH: Jenice Yu opened her South Burnaby F.I.S.H. (Fresh Ideas Start Here) shop in 2008 with the goal of educating people about the bounty of fresh fish and seafood available in our local waters, directly sourced from local fishermen. Bringing the West Coast’s freshest catch from boats to kitchen tables, Yu also supplies sustainable Ocean Wise seafood to some of the city’s top restaurants including Maenam, Royal Dinette, The Pear Tree, Ask For Luigi and West. With much fanfare, the seafood purveyor opened her second retail outlet on West Broadway in Kitsilano. Attendees explored the 950-square-foot retail space, while enjoying seafood bites by some of Vancouver’s top chefs, including Maenam’s Angus An, Zest’s Zest’s Tatsuya Katagiri and F.I.S.H.’s own Josh Blumenthal, who will head the franchise’s gourmet food department.
LAUGHING MATTER: Comics Allyson June Smith, Patrick Maliha and Graham Clark headlined the Foundation Fighting Blindness’s Comic Vision fundraiser. Chaired by Caitlin Robinson, the event drew several hundred supporters who filed into the Hellenic Centre for the yearly event dedicated to leading the fight against blindness by advancing retinal disease research, education and public awareness. Yours truly called the auction of one of a kind items and experiences before the night of laughs. A trip to sunny Maui garnered the evening’s top bid, contributing to the $70,0000 reportedly raised. Since 1999, the national effort featuring Canada’s top comedians has contributed over $8 million to the foundation’s research efforts.
