Saint John’s Gala Raises $900,000

By Lookout Staff

October 19 – A charity ball Saturday honoring Academy Award-winning actor, director and writer Warren Beatty and his wife, actress Annette Bening, raised $900,000 for Saint John’s Health Center.

More than 500 guests attended the 2006 Caritas Gala at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, where the Hollywood stars received the Caritas Award for their “spirit of charity, compassion and commitment to others.”

Pictured with Beatty and Bening (l-r): Carl W. McKinzie, chairman of Saint Johns Health Center Board of Directors; Patrick Wayne, Chairman of the Board, John Wayne Cancer Institute; Rena McKinzie; Jerry B. Epstein, Chairman, Saint Johns Health Center Foundation Board of Trustees; Lou Lazatin, Saint John’s Health Center President and CEO and John Wayne Cancer Institute CEO, and John Lazatin.

Also honored was philanthropist Flora Laney Thornton, who received the Spirit of Saint John’s Award for her extraordinary service and dedication as a Trustee of the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, as well as for her significant contributions to local cultural and educational institutions.

Pictured (l-r): Lawrence Piro, M.D., Caritas Gala Co-Chair Judy Piro, Annette Bening, Warren Beatty, Caritas Gala Co-Chair Catherine Corlin and Richard F. Corlin, M.D.

The Caritas Gala was hosted by the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation and the Irene Dunne Guild, a key support group of the hospital with a membership of approximately 86 women. The guild provides a variety of volunteer services and philanthropic support to Saint John’s.

In addition to hosting the Caritas Gala, the Irene Dunne Guild helped fund the new Saint John’s Mobile Blood Donor Center and created the “Angels of the ER” program to provide non-medical assistance to emergency room patients and their families. This year’s gala was co-chaired by guild members Catherine Corlin and Judy Piro.

Past event honorees include Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, Anthony Hopkins, Martin Sheen, Vin Scully, Robert Wagner, Angela Lansbury, former First Lady Nancy Reagan and Jimmy Stewart.