WIPCR 13^th Annual Valentine’s Day Gala Gets Glamorous on the Red Carpet!

KIRKLAND, February 15th, 2012 – Last Friday night more than 500 guests participated in a truly glamorous evening of great food, music and dancing in support of the West Island Palliative Care Residence. The 13th annual St. Valentine’s Gala themed Red Carpet, was once again held at the beautiful Château-Vaudreuil. The evening’s attendees had the privilege of meeting honorary guests Mark Kelley, host of Connect with Mark Kelley on CBC; Anthony Calvillo, Montreal Alouettes quarterback and Mr. Jean-Marc Vallée, Canadian film director and screenwriter best known for his work on the 11-time genie winning film C.R.A.Z.Y.  Andrew Carter, morning man on CJAD and Quebec cabinet minister Yolande James, once again shared the stage as MC's for the evening. Thanks to the generosity of everyone involved, this year’s gala was able to raise $300,000, including $40,000 from the silent auction.

The Black tie evening is the West Island Palliative Care’s biggest fundraiser. The free-standing Residence, which is the first of its kind in Montreal, provides a special type of care for terminally-ill people to live out their final days in comfort and dignity. Recognized across the province and Canada for their excellence in the field of palliative care, the facility has welcomed more than 1750 patients in the final stages of ALS, MS, Cardio disease or Cancer. The importance of the Gala is even more evident this year as the West Island Palliative Care opened a new 14 bed facility in addition to the existing 9 bed free standing Residence, expanding its service to 23 beds and becoming one of the largest Palliative Care centres in Canada.

Teresa Dellar, the West Island Palliative Care Residence’s Executive Director, acknowledges that the Gala’s continued success is made possible by the support of the West Island community and its leaders. “We would like to thank our Diamond sponsors TASK and the Tenaquip Foundation, our platinum sponsors: Pfizer Canada and Avon; as well as our gold sponsors, the City of Pointe-Claire, Pharmacy Frayne & Di Genova and a Friend of the Residence.  Oh behalf of our Honorary President Dawn Graham, our Gala chair, Anna Marino Sauter and the 2012 Gala committee, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our guests.  Your participation in this wonderful event enables us to continue to provide our patients with the best possible quality of life and care during the final stages of their illness."