Giving Back: Gala 2008

Web Extra! Experience all the art, color and excitement of Gala 2008 in this photo slideshow!

Gala 2008 transformed The Kirklin Clinic® into an elegant art gallery on February 16, raising $658,000 for the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.  

Half of the Gala funds will support UAB’s cancer and nutrition program, with the remainder dedicated to patient and family services and the Director’s Fund for Excellence for high-priority areas.  

ArtBlink, an exciting new addition, featured 11 renowned artists who created pieces in just an hour and a half while guests watched. Ken Jackson then auctioned off the finished masterpieces. ArtBlink added $32,000 to the Gala total.

ArtBlink artists included Nall, Vicki Denaburg, Randy Gachet, Carolyn Goldsmith, Karen Graffeo, Darius Hill, Lonnie Holley, Fran Nagy, Amy Pleasant, Ricky Trione and Paul Ware.  

Contributors of $10,000 and above were Mr. Richard Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Bolden, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lowder, Mr. and Mrs. C. Phillip McWane, Mr. and Mrs. Gene Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. William M. Spencer III, Mr. and Mrs. Hall Thompson and Mr. and Mrs. James Todd.  

Corporate sponsors were Colonial Properties Trust; UAB Administration, Health Services Foundation, Health System and School of Medicine; Burr & Forman LLP; General Machinery; EBSCO Industries Inc.; Diagnostic Health and Starnes Atchison LLP.  

Cleve Eaton and the Alabama All-Stars provided music while attendees enjoyed food, ranging from sushi to beef tenderloin to macaroni-and-cheese bites, from B&A Warehouse.  

Jeanie MacKenzie, Britt Redden and Helen Pardue were this year’s Gala chairs, assisted by Cancer Center event coordinators Rachel Waters and Katie Walls Stripling.