On February 1st, 590 attendees gathered for the 14th edition of the MPI Charity Auction & Dinner which took place at the Delta City Centre Ottawa. The event kicked off with the singing of our (new) National Anthem sung by a local Canterbury High School student, Nick Spiteri. The committee thought it would be fun to start the event by showing our Canadian pride & spirit since this year’s theme was ‘Team Canada’. Many people took the theme very seriously and the room was a sea of red, white & maple leafs!
The night’s emcee extraordinaire was the one and only Brian Henry, Quality Entertainment (who also happened to be my co-chair!). As usual, Brian’s cool demeanor and natural charm kept the event running smoothly. One of the highlights of the evening is always the Live Auction which was executed with finesse and humour by the fast-talking, rhyme-making, crowd-pleasing Ryan Watson, Raising the Bid. Ryan auctioned off three once-in-a-lifetime experiences and raised a record-setting amount for our charities of choice.
Once again, the two charities that benefited from the evening’s fundraising endeavours were the Ottawa Network for Education’s School Breakfast Program and Hopewell – Eastern Ontario’s Only Eating Disorder Support Centre. These charities rely heavily on the kindness and generosity of individuals and organizations such as MPI and I know that I speak on behalf of our MPI chapter when I say that we proudly support the work of these organizations and sincerely appreciate the value that they add to our community. A representative from each of the charities were guests at the President’s table.
Of course, none of this would have been possible if it were not for the incredible support of our sponsors. We would like to extend a very sincere and heartfelt thank you to our Platinum Sponsors – Toronto Business Events and Edmonton Tourism, our Gold Sponsors – Tourism Saskatooon, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism, Meetings & Conventions Calgary, Gold Wine Sponsor – Discover Halifax, Silver Sponsor – Québec City Tourism, Bronze Sponsor, Niagara Falls Business Events, In-kind Platinum Sponsor – Freeman Audio Visual and In-kind Sponsors – Resiada, D.E. Systems Ltd., Mastermind Event Rentals & the Ottawa Lettershop Mailing & Copy Centre.
Lastly I want to thank you, the attendee, for continuing to support this event year after year and to the wonderful and committed volunteers that worked tirelessly to pull it all together. This was a team effort from start to finish.
And now, without further ado, it is my great honour to provide you with this year’s fundraising tally (drum rollllllllllllllll). This year, you helped raise $25,518.00 which will be split equally between the aforementioned charities. WOW!!
From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! See you next year…we are cooking up something new and exciting so stay tuned!
Article written by Chriss Holloway, Director of Community Outreach & CSR, Conference Manager, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
Article edited by Darlene Kelly-Stewart, Stonehouse Sales & Marketing Services
