Thirty years after brothers Gerald and Fred Donovan started a fundraiser for cancer research, Gerald said he never thought the event would raise as much for the cause as it did this year.
“The only reason we’re still doing it is so many families are still touched by cancer. We’re all looking for a cure,” said Donovan, owner of the Chesapeake Bay Resort and Spa and the Rod ‘N’ Reel Restaurant in Chesapeake Beach, where the annual Celebration of Life Gala is held. At last Thursday’s event, he said funds this year exceeded $400,000, nearly $27,000 more than last year and far more than the first gala’s total of $5,300.
Every year, the event grows and more money is raised, Donovan said, and all proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society. About 50 percent of the money raised comes from community sponsorships and the rest comes in from guests who don’t mind paying big bucks for an evening of good food, dancing and mingling at what is said to be Calvert County’s largest fundraising event. About 40 percent of what the American Cancer Society gets from the event goes toward local programs, such as Road to Recovery, I Can Hope, Look Good...Feel Better, Man to Man and Reach to Recovery.
Since the start of the event 30 years ago, more than $4 million has been raised, and Donovan attributed this year’s success to an idea he had to commemorate the gala’s 30th anniversary. While he still had a usual event chairman co-chairmen local meteorologist Doug Hill and Monumental Sports & Entertainment founder and chairman Ted Leonsis he also asked all of the chairmen and -women from previous years to return and help get sponsorships.
“I think it’s been beautiful,” Donovan said of the idea. “Attendance is up, revenue’s up.”
Several past chairmen, including Sue and Steve Kullen, former senator Bernie Fowler, Calvert County Arts Council Executive Director Pat Carpenter and her husband, Chesapeake Beach Town Councilman Bob Carpenter, and former Maryland secretary of Veterans Affairs George Owings, stood at the entrance to the gala, greeting guests as they made their way down the red carpet in the Rod ‘N’ Reel parking lot.
“It’s kind of fun to see everybody back,” 2008 chairwoman Pat Carpenter said.
“We were very pleased to lend a hand this year and I think we’ve exceeded the funds we raised last year,” said former delegate Sue Kullen, who co-chaired the event last year with Steve. “It’s just grown exponentially. This is the party of the year.”
Owings said the event means more to him now than when he chaired it in ’87, as he since has battled and beaten skin cancer, in 2007 and again in 2009.
“The event itself is a show of what Calvert County is made of by the sheer number of people who turn out for an event specifically aimed at attacking cancer,” Owings said. “It’s a tremendous outpouring.”
Fellow past chairman Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George’s) said he was glad to see that even with a hurting economy people were still willing to donate to the cause.
“It just grows and grows,” he said. “I know we’re having a difficult time because of the economy, but people who can afford it are here.”
As this year’s co-chairman, Hill said he was quick to say yes when Donovan asked him to be part of the event. His mother died of lung cancer and two of his brothers are cancer survivors, so the gala’s purpose hit close to home.
“I’ve heard everybody has been or knows somebody who has been affected by the disease,” Hill said. “If one day I develop cancer I know because of events like this there’s a lot of good people working to help.” He added that he hopes his presence at the gala will help inspire others to attend in future years and be more charitable.
While many people who attended the gala either had battled cancer or known a survivor, Calvert County Commissioners’ Vice President Pat Nutter (R) said he felt the importance of the event this year more than in years past, as his wife currently battles the disease.
“We’ve had so much support from so many citizens in the county,” he said. “I do it every year anyhow. I help them set up and then help them tear down the next day. It’s quite a daunting task.”
His wife is dealing with the effects of chemotherapy, he said, but he added, “She’s on her way to better health. And the support from everyone’s been really great. She gets calls from people she doesn’t even know. As her progress continues, she intends to become more involved in supporting others.”
Nutter returned bright and early the next day to help tear down.
Most people at the celebration, however, were not politicians but rather everyday county residents who believe in the cause like Kim and Drew Stafford. A handful of relatives on both sides of the young North Beach couple’s family either survived or lost their battle to cancer, they said, and they want to help change that.
“It’s definitely important. We’ll do anything to support a cure,” Drew said. “We’ve got to figure something out.”
mrussell@somdnews.com
