Monday Morning Good News: March 4

The UCSD Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center’s 16th annual Heart of San Diego Gala was held on Feb. 9 at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort. The event raised $470,000 to support fellowship and educational support, which enables the Center to bring physicians to the UC San Diego School of Medicine. The Heart of San Diego Award was presented to Audrey Geisel in recognition of her long standing support. “Mrs. Geisel recognized the Center’s potential to change the way heart and stroke care are delivered-and save lives-throughout the San Diego region,” said Kirk Peterson, director of the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center.

DPR Construction has given $40,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito, the La Colonia Branch. The funding from the DPR Foundation will provide 100 youth and teens access to after school programs at no cost to members of the Club. “DPR’s commitment to ‘Build Great Things” extends far beyond our offices or customers – we strive to go into the communities where we work and live,” said Peter Nosler, co-founder of DPR Construction.

The 2013 JCC Patron party was held on Mar. 6 at Neiman Marcus San Diego. Joan and Irwin Jacobs were the Honorary Chairpersons. The evening included a red carpet couture fashion show presented by Neiman Marcus, catered dinner by Hyatt Regency La Jolla as well as a live auction. All proceeds will benefit the programs and services at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society San Diego Chapter’s 2013 Man/Woman of the Year program is kicking off their 10 week campaign to choose this year’s winner. David Oates is one of the candidates and has devised an extensive marketing plan with a goal of raising $25,000 for blood cancer research. He has put together a team who are focused on making life better for patients battling blood cancers: leukemia, lymphoma and myloma.  JoJo is the team’s Girl of the Year for the campaign and point of inspiration for the team.

Amaya La Jolla is scheduled to open on Mar. 18 with former executive chef Camron Woods of Amaya at the The Grand Del Mar at the helm. “We are very excited about bringing the Amaya experience to this vibrant seaside community of San Diego,” said Tom Voss, president of The Grand Del Mar. “Camron Woods is perfectly suited to be Amaya La Jolla’s executive chef,” added Voss.

The San Diego Museum of Art opened the Art of East Asia exhibition in their newly renovated and reinstalled galleries on Feb. 9 to coincide with Chinese New Year. The exhibition animates the philosophical and creative traditions of Asian luminaries and everyday people across East Asian cultures. “The reinstallation of this important part of our permanent collection is the result of years of studying our Asian art holdings,” said Roxana Velasquez, executive director of The San Diego Museum of Art.

The American Diabetes Association’s San Diego chapter‘s 2013 Tour de Cure, a cycling fundraiser is scheduled to begin on Apr. 20 at Torrey Pines High School. 1,500 riders are expected to participate and help raise $530,000 for diabetes research and programs and services for people with diabetes. Sponsors include Sycuan Bank of the Kumeyaay Nation, Shire Regenerative Medicine, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Northrop Grumman. Riders may register by going to www.diabetes.org/sandiegotourdecure.

Water to Wine: Making Miracles – All You Need is Love was the 5^th annual benefit gala presented by Episcopal Community Services at Estancia Hotel in La Jolla. Marie Tuthill, a lifelong community philanthropist and community activist was honored at the Valentine’s fundraiser to benefit the programs offered by ECS. The proceeds will help ECS deliver services to 10,000 people who struggle with poverty, mental health challenges, homelessness and addition.

Please send news items to Joyce Glazer at [email protected].