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Craig Hospital’s PUSH, a dinner that Art Seiden started to celebrate small victories, big victories and getting on with the business of life, marked its 10th anniversary in a very large way.

A crowd just shy of 1,000 gathered at the Sheraton Denver Downtown on March 3 for an inspirational evening that raised enough to boost the cumulative total past the $7 million mark. John Gart, chairman of the Craig Hospital Foundation board, and his wife, Martha, headed the 19-member leadership team that included attorney Peter Burg; Sam Fishbein of the Kacey Fine Furniture family; investment adviser Josh Lozow and hospital president Mike Fordyce.

Craig Hospital, located in Englewood, is a world leader in the treatment of spinal cord and traumatic brain injury. Seiden, a commercial Realtor with Cassidy Turley/Fuller, and his late wife, Julie, began the dinner as a tribute to the care she had received there. John Gart’s father, the late sporting goods mogul Jerry Gart, had been a Craig patient in the early 1990s as he recuperated from a series of strokes, and his mother, Sally, established the Jerry Gart Patient Assistance Fund at Craig as an expression of the family’s gratitude.

A highlight of the dinner was when Don Digby was given the Christopher and Dana Reeve Inspiration Award. The trucking line executive was a Craig patient in 2001, after breaking his neck and back in an all-terrain vehicle accident in the California desert.

“Without fanfare or expectations, Don gives and gives,” Fordyce said. His deeds range from visiting with patients, offering advice and support as they grapple with the life changes that come with their injuries, to quietly picking up the tab whenever he and his wife dine at a restaurant near the hospital and see a Craig patient eating there, too. Digby’s hand was the first to go up when auctioneer Don Martin asked for a $30,000 donation during the special appeal.

The dinner got off to a rousing start when Craig staffer Kenny Parks led the audience in singing Kool and the Gang’s “Celebrate (Good Times).” Parks had treated Craig graduate Richard Graff, whose road to recovery was featured in the evening’s video.

Cherry Hills Village artist Linda Kelley was at the dinner, and shared the fun news that producers of “Hawaii Five-O” had leased one of her paintings, “Magnificent Monkey Pod,” for the Feb. 7 episode, “E Malama.” It was hung in the federal courthouse, and Kelley said TV audiences could get a nice view of it during the final five minutes of the show. Kelley’s husband, Dr. Richard Kelley, is chairman of the Hawaii-based Outrigger Hotels and they donated a five-night stay at the Outrigger Reef in Waikiki to the PUSH auction.

Others supporting the cause were former Gov. Bill Owens at the PCL Construction Services table with Peter and JoAnn Beaupre and Al and Frances Troppmann; former Denver Nugget Bill Hanzlik; Doak and Connie Jacoway; Deanna and Greg Austin; Barry and Gay Curtiss-Lusher; John and Barb Schabacker; Amy Slothower; Spike and Nan Eklund; Sue Lynch; and RE/MAX founders Dave and Gail Liniger.

This and that.

Prom and party dresses from Dillard’s will be modeled on Sunday when Les Demoiselles has a mother-daughter brunch at Glenmoor Country Club. The 11:30 a.m. event also includes a salute to the Colorado-based Project C.U.R.E. and its work to bring medical supplies to the world’s poorest countries. Les Demoiselles, open to girls in grades 9-12, is part of the Denver Ballet Guild’s ongoing efforts to build an appreciation for dance and the performing arts.

Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and GetItWrite on Twitter