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The Irene Dunne Guild co-hosted the 2016 Caritas Gala in
partnership with the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation
board of trustees Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Beverly Wilshire
Hotel, Beverly Hills. The black-tie event honored Jennifer
Beals with the Caritas Award; Allyson Felix with the
inaugural Hope & Inspiration Award; and Kathleen McCarthy
Kostlan, on behalf of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey
Foundation, with the Spirit of Saint John’s Award. The
Caritas Gala honors individuals who exemplify dedication and
commitment to the community and embody the philosophy and
mission of Saint John’s.
The evening featured
a special performance by singer/songwriter and actress
Alisan Porter, recent winner of NBC’s The Voice,
Season 10.
Donna L. Schweers,
chair of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation board of
trustees, welcomed the more than 400 guests, noting that
next year marks the 75th anniversary of Saint
John’s, “…a community of care that includes a remarkable and
remarkably dedicated group of physicians delivering
world-class clinical care.” She went on to acknowledge the
evening’s dinner chairs (Debra and Norris J. Bishton Jr.,
The Martha and David L. Ho Family, Shelby Notkin, Dominic J.
Ornato and the Schweers-Geiser Family) before introducing
gala co-chairs Judy Beck and Kathy Yawitz. Beck recognized
guild president, Brenda McDonald and stated the guild would
be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2017.
Yawitz acknowledged that since its inception, the guild has
raised more than $13 million, resulting in a host of new
equipment and programs that benefit Saint Johns’ patients
throughout the hospital’s many departments.
Marcel Loh, chief
executive of Providence Saint John’s Health Center and John
Wayne Cancer Center, shared exciting Health Center updates
and accolades including the recent U.S. News and World
Report top ranking for knee and hip replacements and
treatment of congestive heart failure. He also acknowledged
honoree Kathleen McCarthy Kostlan as “the embodiment of the
community support that created and sustains Saint John’s
legacy of excellence.”
Robert O. Klein,
president and CEO of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation,
presented the Spirit of Saint John’s Award to the
Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation. Kathleen McCarthy
Kostlan, chair of the Leavey Foundation, daughter of its
founders and a Saint John’s Health Center Foundation trustee
accepted the award. “Kathleen and the Leavey Foundation,”
said Klein “have for many, many years been ‘stand by your
side’ kind of friends to us at Saint John’s, the ones who
are always there in times of real need, and not just with
financial support, but also encouragement, energy and
vision.”
Kathleen McCarthy
Kostlan serves as a trustee of the University of Southern
California as well as several community and charitable
boards. Thomas Leavey co-founded Farmers Insurance in 1928
based on the premise that rural drivers should pay less for
insurance because they encountered less risk than their
urban-dwelling counterparts. After the insurance company
became one of the most successful in the nation, Leavey and
his wife Dorothy E. Risley Leavey started the Thomas and
Dorothy Leavey Foundation in 1952 to share their good
fortune with medical, Catholic and educational community
institutions they supported.
Olympic Gold
medalist Joanna Hayes presented the 2016 Hope & Inspiration
Award to six-time Olympic champion, Allyson Felix, noting
that “it is an honor to present the award to my friend and
my inspiration.”
Olympian Felix is
now the most decorated female track and field Olympian in
history. Felix grew up in Los Angeles. Her father, Paul, an
ordained minister, was an excellent sprinter as a teen. She
inherited her long legs from her school teacher mother,
Marlean. Felix attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in
North Hills and accomplished impressive feats over her high
school career. She broke Marion Jones’ high-school 200-meter
record in April, 2003. Weeks later, she competed in the
Banamex Grand Prix in Mexico City and ran a blazing 22.11
200-meter race, a new world record in the under-20 category.
Felix won three gold medals in the 2012 Olympic Games and
followed that up in 2016 with two more gold medals and a
silver medal.
Sheryl Ross, MD,
presented the Caritas Award to “my patient and dear
friend, Jennifer Beals,” describing the internationally
renowned actress as “a fierce activist for social change and
equality for the underdog. She sees the world as it is, but
believes we have the power to make it better.”
As part of the
presentation to Beals, John M. Robertson, MD, announced that
the actress and activist has partnered with clothing
designers and a number of Saint John’s physicians including
Dr. Ross, Nicole Weinberg, MD, and himself to help research
and develop a new type of bra that can be used in the
everyday stress testing of women evaluated for
cardiovascular disease and for women recovering from open
heart surgery.
Jennifer Beals has
been featured in more than 50 films and among some of the
highest rated television series to date. Currently she stars
in NBC’s medical drama The Night Shift, and can next
be seen as the female lead in Taken, NBC’s
straight-to-series adaptation of the hit movie franchise.
She earned a Golden Globe nomination and won an NAACP Image
Award for Best Actress for her role in the iconic film
Flashdance, a Canadian Screen Award nomination for her
role in A Wife’s Nightmare and a Golden Satellite
Award for her role in Twilight of the Golds. Beals
recently starred in Manhattan Night, and her latest
film project, Before I Fall, will be released
theatrically in April 2017. She will executive produce the
upcoming dance drama The Edge, recently sold to FOX,
teaming up with Kenny Ortega and James Larosa. Beals starred
in TNT’s Proof, The Chicago Code and the hit Showtime
series The L Word, which aired for six seasons and
garnered her two NAACP Image Awards and a Satellite Award
nomination. Beals received the Maverick Tribute Award at the
Cinequest San Jose Film Festival in 1999. She was presented
with the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally for Equality Award in
2012 for her support in the LGBT community.
Net proceeds from
the gala benefit vital programs and services at the Health
Center. Since 1987, the guild has raised more than $13
million and has supported Saint John’s through a wide
variety of innovative philanthropic, educational and
volunteer programs and services. The guild was named for the
late actress Irene Dunne, considered the “First Lady” of
Saint John’s.
Past Caritas Gala
honorees include: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Warren Beatty
and Annette Bening, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Sir
Anthony Hopkins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver,
Martin Sheen, Vin Scully, Robert Wagner, Angela Lansbury,
Pierce Brosnan, Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, Chris
O’Donnell, Tonian Hohberg, Raylene and Bruce Meyer, Merle
and Peter Mullin and Jimmy Stewart.
About Saint
John’s Health Center Foundation
Saint John’s Health
Center Foundation inspires philanthropic support for
Providence Saint John’s Health Center and the John Wayne
Cancer Institute in Santa Monica. Private support provides
the margin of excellence that enables both the hospital and
the Institute to be leaders in the quality of care and
research they provide. For more information, visit
www.SaintJohnsFoundation.org.
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