Guests braved the chilly night and were greeted at the inaugural Adelaide Gala Dinner, by the soulful tunes of Atlanta Street Band, Music Adelaide. Many made a bee-line for the Wine Wall which sold out of all 119 bottles in less than 40 minutes! Those that missed out were not dismayed as they started the bidding fury for the 54 Silent Auction items.
We thank our sponsor’s Signs Inc, Eckermann Steinert Conveyancers, Barossa Nissan, JC Mini Buses, Newstyle Printing as well as House of Healing Bamboo Day Spa and Mint Movement Pilates who gave all 350 guests a Day Spa and Pilates voucher.
There
were incredible prizes up for grabs and we thank all our raffle and main
auction prize donors Holidays of Australia and the World, Great Southern Rail,
Apollo Camper, Carlton United Breweries, Chook Little Winery Tours, Adelaide
Time Watch & Clock Specialists, Darryl Wakelin, Robin & Sara Tredrea,
Davina Nicholls and Chris & Liz Sexton.
Special
thanks also to our silent auction donors: Bamboo Day Spa, Treasury Wines, AFL, Loan
Ave, Quamby Estate, Leanne Marshall Jewellery & Objects, Samsonite, Market
Import Hyde Park, Kate Ellis Photography, Adelaide Festival Theatre, One Night
Stand, The Hairdresser on Hutt, Michael Waterhouse Photography, Woodcroft Picture
Framers, Foodland Norwood, Karl Chehade Dry Cleaning, Sugar & Spice Cakes, Adelaide
Training & Employment Centre, Somefoods, Silk Laser Clinic, Miranda Lloyd
Designs, Money Options, Morphettville Racecourse, One Rundle Trading, Zink the
Element of Hair, Humble Beginnings Sydney, NAB, The Colonist, The Victory
Hotel, The Mile End Hotel, Zak’s Restaurant, Mediterranean Café, Pizza Society,
Bill McSwain, Kees Van De Hueval, Michael Jenkins, Rick Backhouse, Ian
McGregor, Gabrielle Cehic, Kylie Ferguson, Liz Woods, Liz Sexton, and Jackie
Barreau
Prof Timothy Price (Chairman AGITG) gave the audience an appreciation of how important the CONTROL NETs clinical trial is to advance the treatment for Neuroendocrine Cancer patients. Kristin Leknius bravely shared her story and really brought home how the treatments in the CONTROL NETs trial will help real people as she is now cancer free. Later in the evening Brydie Bucknall and her husband Mark spoke openly about the genetic link to NETs and how it will affect their family in the years to come. Your speech, Brydie, reinforced why we work so hard to make change for people with NETs.
Many guests made use of the Photobooth and took home a memento of the night. We thank Ben Stokes and his team for manning the booth through the night and donating the profits back to The Unicorn Foundation. The photos get funnier as the night rolled on, check them out here.
Thank you to Charlotte Rhiane for her beautiful performance and for bravely talking about her dad’s journey with NET Cancer. Her rendition of ‘The Prayer’ did not leave a dry eye in the house. Thank you to the Atlanta Street Band from Music Adelaide who were fabulous in getting guests up and dancing. Roger Smith worked his auctioneering magic with the main auction raising over $10,000 alone. We thank Adelaide’s much loved local Graeme Goodings who kept the audience in line with his familiar voice and heartfelt delivery and for that we are grateful as it is often a very difficult job!
The night had a professional edge to it made so by the talented event managers, Jennie Bell and Marcia Mudge from Jennie Bell Ink who donated their time. We also thank Philippa Ellenwood and Rebel Jenkins for giving up their Saturday night and helping make the night run smoothly.
The room looked spectacular and we thank Bliss Events, Entertainment Adelaide, and Budget Party Hire for their support.
We had
patients travel in from around the country to be part of the night which was
extra special. It was such an amazing opportunity to meet many of you face to
face and we appreciate the effort it took to get there on the night.
With
the end result of nearly $50,000 raised on the night we are thrilled to be able to contribute this to the CONTROL NETs clinical trial. Without the support of the above and the tireless work of volunteers: Jamie Kernaghan, Kathy Hatzi, Kay Backhouse, Jackie Barreau, Koli Ali, Venecia Willenberg, Liz Sexton, Liz Woods, Gabby Cehic and the leadership and hard work of Brydie Bucknall the night would not have been possible. We are so grateful to these incredible women and their husbands and families for the passion and support.
We could not be happier with the night’s result and thank everyone for getting involved. Till next time!
Simone
Leyden
Dr John Leyden
CEO
The Unicorn Foundation
Chariman The Unicorn Foundation
