St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Foundation's Heroes Ball
"I have lived my childhood dream," said pediatricianDaniel Plascencia, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital Foundation's 2018 Community Hero, "to be a good doctor for many," a goal he set long before immigrating from Cuba at age 14. It wasn't easy convincing him to accept the award, so hospital president Kimberly Guy kept an even bigger honor secret until Saturday at the fourth annual Heroes Ball. The Children's Chronic Complex Clinic he created for diverse specialists to treat multiple medical conditions under one roof will now be called the Plascencia Clinic. "You deserve this, Doc," said gala honorary chairman and close friendTino Martinezas 670 guests cheered at the Marriott Waterside.
Elaine Shimberg, founding chairwoman of the foundation, husband Hinks Shimberg and daughter Kasey Shimberg Kelly led the gala committee with a whimsical Secret Garden theme, raising a record-setting 100 raffle winners of a $5,000 Gold and Diamond Source shopping spree.
Opera Tampa Gala
Philanthropist/physician Zena Lansky dressed up as Lady Macbeth; husband Warren Rodgers came as Rigoletto to co-chair the Opera Tampa gala, welcoming operatically attired guests to a "fete on the set" of Verdi's Macbeth at the Straz Center. That feisty Carmen was Opera League chairwoman Gina D'Angelo; of course, husband Barry Levine was "Don Jose." Straz Center CEO Judy Lisi joked, "I'm either Tosca or Lucille Ball." Lisi added another accolade to opera superstar Denyce Graves' mezzo-soprano repertoire: the Anton Coppola Excellence in the Arts award, presented for loving the art form as much as the maestro, 102-year-old composer Anton Coppola. Retired newsanchor John Wilson emceed; publisher Aaron Fodiman auctioned and a trio of opera stars sang on the Ferguson Hall stage Saturday.
Karamu
Cocktails in the African realm, dinner in the greenscaped safari lodge and penguin naming rights made the 30th annual Karamu wildly successful for ZooTampa at Lowry Park, adding nearly 5 million the party has raised to date.
Mother Nature's rain dance didn't daunt Karamu co-chairs Emily and Andrew Wright, CEO of Franklin Street commercial real estate firm, nor board chairwoman Marylou Bailey, briefly ducking under umbrellas at Saturday's "Step into the Wild" black-tie gala. Soon enough, the 350 guests ventured outside to feed giraffes, chat with an owl and snap Selfies with a hedgehog.
The chance to name a newly-hatched penguin was so popular that auctioneers tripled the opportunity, swiftly raising $33,000 from bidders Carmen and Harry Barkett. Nicole and Dan Doyle Jr. and John and Wendy Thomas.
