Donors are the stars of Allied Jewish Federation’s show, so you have to admit it was darn clever for the agency to literally place them in the spotlight by having a thank- you party on the stage of the University of Denver’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts.
Two hundred major contributors – their gifts amount to nearly 60 percent of AJF’s annual fund-raising effort – assembled on the Newman Center stage for cocktails, dinner and a concert by maestro Jeffrey Kahane and several members of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. David and Mia Berlin, Art and Joanne Kleinstein and Steven and Amy Morris were the chairmen.
Special guests included Israeli Consul Genral Ehud Danoch; AJF president Doug Seserman and Don Silversmith, who described his mission to Ethiopia on behalf of Operation Promise, a national initiative to assist elderly Jews living in the former Soviet Union and to bring remaining Ethiopian Jews to Israel within the next three years. The federation has pledged $1.65 million to this cause.
What else is new?
The National Repertory Orchestra holds its Summer Gala tonight in the Donald R. Seawell Ballroom. Suzy Witzler, treasurer of the NRO board, chairs the black-tie event that is presented by Wells Fargo Bank and features dancing to the 85-piece orchestra conducted by Carl Topilow. Committee members include Sharon Magness Blake, Kate Taucher, David Alexander and Bonnie Kirschenbaum. Call 303-831-1166.
As a prelude to the third annual Pam Saunders Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, sponsors and participants will be feted at a gala held Saturday night at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. There will be cocktails, live and silent auctions and music by the Dave Rohlf Jazz Trio. Both are benefits for pancreatic cancer research, the disease that claimed the life of Pam Saunders, a young wife and mother who had been an award-winning producer for KMGH-TV. Call Nancy Saunders, 303-762-1414 or Peg Reed, 303-733-2916.
Frontier Airlines executive Andrew Hudson receives the 2006 Friendship Award from Denver Sister Cities International at a dinner ceremony Tuesday at the Walnut Foundry event center, 3002 Walnut St. Hudson is being honored for his humanitarian contributions here and abroad, including his role in raising $70,000 for tsunami relief in Denver’s sister sity of Chennai, India, and for aiding Hurrican Katrina victims. CBS4 anchor Molly Hughes will emcee A Night in the Vieux Carre; former Mayor Wellington Webb will deliver the tribute. Call 303-382-2999.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
