Page 12 - Samaritas Fall/Winter Our Hands 2022

EVENTS

GRAND RAPIDS GALA RAISES $300K!
It was an evening of intrigue, mystery, fun and fundraising at the 7th annual Samaritas Be the Rock gala, held at
the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel on September 19th. “Be an Agent of Change” was the theme, and the festivities
illustrated that perfectly. From the VIP reception, sponsored by New Holland Brewery, which featured the
DVW3 trio serenading guests with James Bond theme songs, to the dramatic entrance,
via helicopter and Aston Martin, by CEO Sam Beals, it was an action-
packed night, which raised close to $300,000 for Samaritas
programs.

Hosted by Grand Rapids’ own Maranda and featuring
special guest speaker, Olympic figure skater and broadcast
commentator Scott Hamilton, the event highlighted
adoption, foster care, refugee resettlement and many
other Samaritas programs and honored volunteers and
companies who have provided support in so many ways
to vulnerable people around the state.

Event Chair, Bing Goei of Eastern Floral was
presented with the Agent of Change award,
Zoom Info was honored with the Volunteer
award and Steve Fase of Berkshire
Hathaway was our Ambassador award
recipient. Dick Gauthier of UFP,
co-event chair, also introduced a very
moving tribute to the former event chair,
the late Floyd Wilson Jr., who passed
away earlier this year.
Book signings by Scott Hamilton, a
touching musical number performed by
Liz Barnett of Hark Up, and a personal
testimonial eloquently given by Yuliya
Parker from Ukraine, led up to the
exciting live auction and the “Funding
the Mission” finale, where attendees
tried to outbid each other on the state
of the art desk chairs, signed sports
memorabilia and even a hot air balloon
ride! The raffle prize was a winter
getaway ski vacation at The Homestead
Lodge.
Guests also sipped on signature cocktails,
enjoyed a glitter festooned selfie station
with the gold man, and enjoyed browsing
the creative paintings from the Youth
Refugee Art Show.
If you are interested in becoming a
sponsor for our 2023 Be the Rock gala,
contact Tanya Horan at
tanya.horan@samaritas.org