The most difficult word for a fundraiser to say is “no,” yet David Thomson and Gerry Miale found themselves having to repeat it often as the 2006 Nathan Yip Foundation Chinese New Year Gala approached. The co-chairs of this dinner and auction thought they would be OK by moving it from Johnny Hsu’s Palace Chinese Restaurant to the much larger Cable Center, but even it wasn’t big enough to accommodate everyone who wanted to take part.
Guests came from Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Vancouver, Edmonton, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas and Houston to join Linda and Jimmy Yip and their Denver friends in raising money to support projects of the foundation they established following the death of their only child, Nathan, in 2001. Nathan was a 19-year-old freshman at Lehigh University when he was killed in an automobile accident near Denver Botanic Gardens.
A graduate of Kent Denver School, Nathan was a vice president of Future Givers, a student-founded group that staged a ball every year to raise money for Project PAVE. Nathan also traveled around the world with his parents and was deeply affected by the abject poverty in which many Third World children lived.
“Nathan was a young man with great empathy and concern for world problems,” Jimmy Yip recalled. “As a Chinese-American, he knew how fortunate he was to be born in America and knew that by connecting with children in other countries, he could make a true difference and begin to help create a more global society.” The Yips had promised their son that they would start the foundation following his graduation from college.
7News anchor Anne Trujillo was the evening’s mistress of ceremonies, and introduced David Thomson, a friend of the Yip family (Linda and Jimmy are godparents to Thomson’s two sons) who also serves as president of the Nathan Yip Foundation board. He talked about the foundation’s Adopt a Child program, which to date has helped 1,000 children from China. For each $100 donation, Thomson noted, supporters cover a child’s education, clothes, books and food for one year.
Gerry Miale described the visit that she and her husband, Fred, made to the Loreto School in Baja California to see firsthand the difference that the Nathan Yip Foundation has made there by providing money for a new library, study hall and computer center. Later, Jimmy Yip announced that foundation funds are being used to add 17,000 square feet to the New City Elementary School in China’s Jiangxi Province; on a visit to the site, the Yips learned that the name is being changed to the Nathan Yip Foundation School of Hope.
“One of the families told us that to be poor is not scary, but to be without education is scary,” Jimmy said.
Auctioneer Paul Behr brought the crowd to its feet as Okie Arnot set the pace by bidding $1,000 for one of the five pieces of artwork created by the children at the school built by the Yip Foundation. Joining her by purchasing the other two were Anna Sie and Eric Mohr. Eric is with Peliton Insurance and is engaged to the silent auction co-chair, Krista Agramonte.
Of course, no Chinese New Year’s Celebration would be complete without the traditional Lion Dance – a very colorful experience especially this year at the new balconied venue, the University of Denver’s Cable Center.
Another step toward Mideast peace
There’s no simple solution to achieving peace in the Middle East. Yet one can’t help but think that the greater the number of people who are dedicated to making it happen, the sooner it may be realized.
Accordingly, 500 of Denver’s civic leaders gathered at the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom for a dinner that raised $260,000 for the University of Denver’s Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East and honored developer Jordon Perlmutter for what ISIME executive director Shaul Gabbay described as a 50-year effort of “building support for worthy causes at home and abroad.”
Bob Loup, chairman of the ISIME board, and his wife, Robyn, planned the dinner with help from fellow board member Peter Kudla and his wife, Bonnie, Brent and Julie Morse and Lester and Cookie Gold. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was honorary chairman, and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon, was the speaker.
DU Chancellor Robert Coombe was among those attending The Hope Dinner: A Tribute to Peace. Other supporters were Adam and Katie Agron, Larry and Carol Mizel, Gary and Terri Yourtz, Allan and Margot Frank, and Tom and Margie Gart. Jay and Jonathan Perlmutter, both of whom have wives named Lisa, and their sisters and brothers-in-law, Vicki and David Dansky and Lisa and Shell Cook, also took part in the tribute.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
