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.
MARL Hoof and Woof In 1996, the first year of this annuSally Gerak al Michigan Animal Rescue League benefit, it was staged ringside at the Bloomfield Open Hunt horse show so “hoof” was a logical part of the name. The venue has changed but not the clever name, nor the solicitous attention of its creator - Yvonne Fisher McCready. That summer she was very pregnant with her first daughter Madison. This year Madison was a volunteer raffle ticket seller and her parents, along with Connie Hogan and Jep and Michelle Street, were the cochairs. It was especially spirited because it celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Pontiac-based rescue organization, notable because it does not euthanize healthy animals. It attracted the largest crowd yet (300), including two and three generations of some families, to Oakland Hills Country Club. They socialized big time, sipped and supped on the stroll and boogied to Simon Vitale’s music. In between they bought raffle tickets and silent auction items ($15,000) and bid in a mini-live Hot Board auction ($8,900), conducted by Tim Humes and Elise Fisher Hayes. The Diamond Anniversary Celebration raised more than $100,000. And, like the early Hoof and Woofs for which she made doggie motif cookies, Sis Fisher helped out this year – by making the glistening doggie table decorations. To learn why MARL inspires such devotion, go to www.michiganannimalrescueleague.org. Judson Center’s A Night to Embrace For 30 of Judson Center’s 90 years of embracing children, essential funds have been raised to support its mission at a gala dinner and auction. The 30th anniversary of A Night to Embrace kicked off with a VIP Celebration Reception for 70 at The Corner Bar. The champagne accented event was a splendid beginning to the evening which attracted 230 to The Townsend for pre-dinner cocktails and silent auction bidding ($18,000). The dinner program, emceed by WWJ’s Tom Jordan, began with a rousing performance by a musical group comprised of JC residents, volunteers, staffers, board members and event committee members. After dinner, auctioneer Christopher Aslanian garnered $19,000 for 11 items, including GM’s donation of a Superbowl XLVIII package ($5,500). Thanks also to generous sponsors and the $54,000 pledged during Take A Stand, the soiree raised $200,000 for services to the children and families served by the center, which will also benefit from its share of North American International Auto Show Charity Preview proceeds on Jan. 17, 2014. Michigan Aids Coalition Dining by Design Although MAC was late getting on board, the national Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids Dining by Design bandwagon, they surely have perfected it. The fourth annual three-part local event chaired by Ann Duke, Kelly Deines and Jennifer Gilbert was as stellar as the first three, and the venue the best yet - the historic Detroit Federal Reserve building on Fort Street, now part of Dan Gilbert’s portfolio. The 28 installations, including one by Rossetti & Associates which has leased the building’s fourth floor, attracted hordes of people: 600 for cocktails on Thursday; 350 for ArtWorks Detroit on Friday; capacity 280 for dinner on Saturday. A Cocktails highlight was the cuisine from 29 restaudowntownpublications.com
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9 1. Event co-chairs Yvonne McCready (left) of Bloomfield and Jep and Michelle Street of Commerce. 2. Ed (left), Janet Mardigian and Matthew of Bloomfield with Diana York of Birmingham. 3. Sis Fisher and her granddaughter Louise McCready of Bloomfield. 4. Tom (left) and Leslie Rosen with Kimberly and Ken Whipple of Bloomfield. 5. Doug (left) and Gwen North of Bloomfield and Denise Bull of Rochester. 6. Bill (left) and Cheryl Bournias and Michelle and Chris Gamble of Bloomfield. 7. Jim (left) and Robin Henderson with Annie Margulis and Chris Zantop of Bloomfield. 8. Debby (left) and Hugh Sloan with Jack Marwil and his bride Duffy Wineman of Bloomfield. 9. Solange and Norm Messelian of Bloomfield. 10. Linda Fisher (left), Char Terry and Joanne Brody of Bloomfield.
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