Philadelphia’s hottest new venue, The Fitler Club, was host to The Bee Foundation’s 6th annual Gala on Saturday, Oct. 5. A record crowd of 230 enjoyed cocktails under in the tented garden and perused the 40+ silent auction items before sitting down to a curated dinner in the Club’s ballroom.
The evening’s Master of Ceremonies, 6ABC’s Ducis Rodgers, opened the event’s festivities and introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Pascal Jabbour, Chief of the Division of Neurovascular Surgery and Endovascular Neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and the newest member of The Bee Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. A renowned global speaker on the issues of brain aneurysms, Dr. Jabbour enlightened the crowd on the causes and treatments of the condition. The recipients of the Foundation’s two most recent research awards, Dr. Louis Kim and Dr. Edward Samaniego addressed their remarks to the need for more research funds and their appreciation of the separate grants awarded them for early detection and treatment approaches to aneurysms. Nikki Mohammedi, a Columbia student managing the Foundation’s Mt. Sinai Research Fellowship into the financial impacts of brain aneurysms, updated the crowd on the Fellowship’s progress. We were also thrilled to have Tatum Gordon, area manager of the St. Petersburg Clean Juice store, give a heartfelt address on the impact of losing her boyfriend, 25-year old Dylan Hopp, to a brain aneurysm this past March. Tatum’s remarks received a standing ovation from the guests, affected as always by hearing the personal impact of this condition on a vibrant young person and the friends and family left behind. A huge vote of thanks and appreciation to Tatum and the entire Clean Juice family!
The live auction, including items such as an African Safari and VIP Philadelphia Eagles Experience drew enthusiastic response from the crowd, who let out some energy on the dance floor and later at the after-party, where the hoops and bowling alleys in the Fitler Club’s private room saw a lot of action!
Summing up the event, Christine and Erin were thrilled to be able to share with the crowd that with their help, we had reached our fundraising goal of almost $240,000 for the evening, a $65K increase from last year. The duo expressed their fervent hope that the efforts of this foundation and their growing supporters would be able to prevent brain aneurysm ruptures and their devastating outcomes.
Erin left us with these words to remember: “We all know the numbers. Every 18 minutes an aneurysm ruptures. 127,520 is the number of ruptures that have occurred since we started The Bee Foundation in May of 2014. 127,000 ruptures that we wish we had prevented. 51,000 Deaths, 77,000 lives changed forever. There is still much research needed to change those numbers. We need to know more about finding the aneurysms, understanding how and why they form, which ones are at risk of rupture. But with the help of our supporters, we are thrilled that we are making progress, and we know we can do more. $25,000 will fund one preventative research grant. One grant that has the power to lead us to prevention. And with your help, prevention is possible.”
