And in San Francisco, more than 650 guests attended the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s annual Hope Gala at the Fairmont, raising $2.4 million for research. Guest John Lasseter offered a surprise live auction item of a voice-over role for a child in his next animated movie, Toy Story 2, which sold for $200,000.
Sales manager Dan Stephan and factory representatives from Aston Martin welcomed guests to the launch of the new DBS, the same car that James Bond will be driving in the new 007 film Quantum of Solace.
Also in Marin, locals enjoyed the third annual Marin Arts Salon at the California Closets showroom in San Rafael. The weekly salons featured emerging artists, performers and designers as well as wine from Imagery Estate Winery and Kunde Estate Winery and hors d’oeuvres by All Seasons Catering.
At SFMOMA’s recent art auction more than 100 lots of contemporary paintings, photography, and sculpture were presented to bidders. The museum garnered more than $1.2 million in proceeds to support exhibitions and education programs, making the auction one of the most successful in the museum’s history.
Fashionable Marinites celebrated the grand opening of Corte Madera’s Juicy Couture with perfectly pink macaroons, champagne and shopping.
In Tiburon, the Reed School Foundation presented a spring fashion show fundraiser, complete with local moms as runway models. Each year the foundation raises money to pay for the difference in funds of what the state of California pays and what it actually costs to educate a child.
San Francisco Opera Guild event cochairs Patricia Ferrin Loucks and Jennifer Smith, along with Nordstrom, teamed up for the Designer Fete 2008, which welcomed more than 500 guests and raised nearly $100,000 for children’s music education.
Nonprofit Image for Success raised nearly $50,000 at its annual luncheon in San Rafael.
San Anselmo-based Sunny Hills Services held “The Power of Love: Opening Our Hearts to Children in Need” as a benefit to serve the agency’s program that helps emotionally disturbed children.
Recently Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain celebrated the release of his first pinot noir, Chanconne, the result of a collaboration with his friend Dennis De La Montanya. In attendance was oenophile and radio host Ziggy “The Wine Gal” Eschliman, who said, “The wine tasted incredible!”
