SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK Here is the update on the recent social scene. Many more photos from each event appear online each week at downtownpublications.com where readers can sign up for an e-mail notice when the latest social scene column is posted. Past columns and photos are also archived at the website for Downtown. Sally Gerak Rose Hill Center 25th Anniversay “I’m blown away by Rose Hill...I’ve never seen any other place that puts it all together like Rose Hill does,” opined Mariel Hemingway. The granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway was speaking at the dinner celebrating the comprehensive mental illness treatment center in Holly. It was the vision of Dan and Rosemary Kelly, whose son John was ill. Since no facility to treat him existed 25 years ago in the midwest, the couple determined to make one a reality. It has subsequently changed the lives of more than 1,600 individuals and their families. Many of the 300 celebration guests are long-time Kelly family friends. They know firsthand the tenacity and faith Rose Hill’s establishment required. So does the honorary event chair, Wally Prechter, who called the couple “kindred spirits.’ (She has been toiling in the research arena of mental illness since her muchcelebrated husband Heinz succumbed to it in 2001.) Hemingway’s story blew me away, filled as it is with eight family suicides, addictions, depression and domestic mayhem. Her determination for a different life led her to an obsession with health, a profound meeting with the Dalai Lama and determination to eradicate the stigma of mental illness. “We’re all okay....and your support of Rose Hills is profound,” Hemingway concluded. Thanks to many generous sponsors, the celebration of hope and healing raised $227,000 for the outstanding facility.
OUR TOWN Art Show & Sale Over 350 people ($75 - $1,000 tickets) attended the Opening Night Party of the 32nd annual Community House-sponsored art show for Michigan artists. On exhibit were 356 works by 142 artists selected by jurors Barbara Heller and Weatherly Stroh. The jurors both said they thought the show was especially strong. They seemed as excited as the artists were about the choices to receive the $10,000 prize money during the evening’s program. Unlike the early years of the event, when guests had an after work cocktail, bought some art and took home a box supper, The Community House’ culinary team prepared savories like mini potato pancakes, beef tenderloin crostinis, mini crab cakes and coconut shrimp for supping on the stroll. Before the show ended on Sunday, 1,000 people had viewed it, 50 pieces of art had new homes and artists had 65 percent of the $20,000 sales total. Detroit International Wine Auction The amazing transformation of the Downtown Boxing Gym into a glamorous lounge and nightclub (a la Las Vegas in the heyday of prizefighting) was the vision of “...my creative wife and better half (Danialle),” said Peter Karmanos, Jr. The event co-chair was speaking to 480 College for Creative Studies supporters ($2,500, $1,500 tickets). They were at the former bookbinding factory in which, 10 years ago, Khali Sweeney opened a non-profit, after-school, academic and athletic refuge for boys and girls from Detroit’s toughest neighborhoods. Before guests adjourned for dinner and the live auction they had bid $68,500 in the silent auction of CCS alums’ art and wine during the Vintner’s Private Reception. Maestro Fritz Hatton masterfully conducted an extraordinary live auction. The top bid was $100,000 for a dinner for six with GM CEO Mary and Tony Barra at Fleming’s in Livonia. This brought the live auction total to $750,000. Combined with pledges ($88,500) and generous sponsors, the 36th annual Art of Wine DIWA raised $2.4 million downtownpublications.com
Rose Hill Center 25th Anniversay
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1. Mariel Hemingway (center) of Los Angeles & Idaho with Rosemary Kelly (left) of Bloomfield and Wally Prechter of Grosse Isle. 2. Jack Reinhard (left), Dan Kelly and Sandy Duncan of Bloomfield. 3. Judith Darin of Bloomfield. 4. Dick Brodie (left) of Bloomfield and Bill Whelan of Grosse Pointe. 5. Patrick Jakeway of Bloomfield, Ben Robinson of Rochester Hills.
OUR TOWN Art Show & Sale
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1. Robert Dempster and Carolyn Rooney-Dempster of Bloomfield. 2. Barbara Heller and Weatherly Stroh of Birmingham. 3. Carla Grava (left) and Pam Rossiter and Sara Rossiter of Birmingham. 4. John & Carol Aubrey of Birmingham. 5. Anita Damiani (left) of Bloomfield with Deborah Hecht of Huntington Woods. 6. Armina Kasprowicz of Rochester Hills. 7. Paul & Laurie Mueller of Rochester Hills.
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