Third Annual Gala Dinner a success, Transitions

Third Annual Gala Dinner a success

by Erin McPhee, BA III

From left, Guest Speaker Mike Duffy and his wife Heather Duffy, talk to Valerie O’Brien, Chair of the Gala Dinner Committee and St. Thomas University president Daniel O’Brien.

With 325 people attending, St. Thomas’ third annual Gala Dinner raised $50, 000 for the Millennium Bursary Fund. The dinner was held on Saturday, February 2, 2002 at the Sheraton Fredericton Hotel.

“Skills at St.Thomas are to be applauded, the school is to be applauded and you are to be applauded for what you have done tonight and over the past three years to continue to make this community that much better,” said guest speaker and professional journalist Mike Duffy. “I urge you to take a bow because you are what makes Canada great.”

Duffy said that St.Thomas, “is truly an institution making an outstanding contribution.” He also said: “They are now able to provide young people with opportunities that allow them to be fulfilled and have fulfilling, clean, non-polluting jobs here at home in this region - an opportunity so many of us didn’t have.”

Duffy said that CTV and ATV will begin offering an annual scholarship in the amount of $6,000 to a third-year St.Thomas media studies student.

President Daniel O’Brien said that they are not going to stop at $500,000. The new goal is set for $1 million.

One of this year’s 30 Millenium Bursary recipients, Aimee White, a second-year criminology and psychology major was asked to say Grace at the dinner.

“I was definitely nervous, but everyone kept reassuring me,” White said. A bagpiper piped us in. Karen Lee Lamrock said to me, ‘Relax. It’s not very often that you get piped into a room. Enjoy it!’ I did relax. It was very classy, I had a good time. Kelly Lamrock, the MC, was hilarious. So was Mike Duffy, he was absolutely wonderful.”

Master of Ceremonies and Director of Student Affairs Kelly Lamrock pointed out that the bursary money raised would help provide for a whole new generation of St. Thomas students.

“Tonight we are celebrating a university that, much like Fredericton, pursues excellence but never elitism. We do this in a way we like to think is practical too, in a way that invites people to go out into the community around them and to understand that we ourselves are part of the larger community,” said Lamrock.

Funds were raised through ticket sales, sponsorship and a live and silent auction. To date over $400,000 has been raised for the fund from the gala dinner, the annual fund and corporate gifts.