More than 900 stars gathered at the Vancouver Convention Centre on November 18 and raised an impressive $5.95 million. This record-breaking achievement made the 22nd Night of a Thousand Stars Gala our most successful ever.

“What an incredible evening,” says Barbara Grantham, President and CEO, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. “This event is a special opportunity to recognize the incredible work many people are doing in health care. It is also an opportunity to thank the philanthropic community who has done so, so much for health care.”

New robot

The $5.95 million raised will allow the Foundation to retire the old surgical robot, Jack, so we can purchase Jack Junior, representing the next generation of surgery at Vancouver General Hospital. Near the end of the evening, Darlene Poole gave an unexpected, generous gift of $1.97 million to achieve the fund-raising goal for the new robot. Both robots are named after Darlene’s late husband Jack Poole.

Leadership in philanthropy

Another highlight of the evening was the Foundation’s presentation of the 2017 Leadership Award to the family owned real estate company Peterson and the Yeung family. This year’s award recipients are honoured for their many years of exceptional philanthropic vision in the province.

“For myself, I have always been most passionate about health care – after all, it affects every single one of us,” said Ben Yeung, executive chair and CEO of Peterson. “Government alone cannot fund the advances in medicine that we see at VGH. Philanthropy is a necessary cornerstone to sustain excellence in our health care.”

Ben’s story

Watch our video to learn more about Ben’s inspiring story.