The POGO Gala After Party, this year with the outer space theme of “Odyssey”, was another fun evening with a well-dressed crowd at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex.

The event décor was grand, the silent auction items were top notch and tunes by Solepower’s Justin Kroker kept the crowd dancing for the rest of the night.

It was my 3rd time at POGO and it was still a blast, especially with Mike Chalut and CAFA’s Brittney Kuczynski. Suzanne Rogers also came out with Glenn Dixon and she bid generously on silent auction items as usual.

I love this format of gala dinner and after party as it helps connect the younger philanthropists to fundraising galas who can’t afford $500 dinner seats. It also gives dinner guests something to look forward to after sitting down for hours. It’s a trend that the POGO event committee has forseen years ago and I hope it continues throughout all fundraising galas.

POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-001
POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-003

6 year old cancer patient, Sara Jean with a POGO board member

6 year old cancer patient, Sara Jean with a POGO board member

POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-031

POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-032

POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-026

POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-043

POGO-Gala-Odyssey-BestofToronto-2014-045

Check out this great video, “A Day in the Life of Sara Jean”, who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3. She’s one of the 4,000 kids in Ontario who are battling cancer.

ABOUT POGO
The Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) was founded in 1983 by a group of pediatric oncologists to champion childhood cancer care and control. As the representative voice of the childhood cancer community, POGO works to ensure that all of Ontario’s children have equal access to state-of-the-art diagnosis, treatment and required ancillary services. We also aim to make certain that Ontario’s children have the greatest prospects for survival with an optimal quality of life.

POGO’s mission is to continually drive improvements across the continuum of children’s cancer care in Ontario by:

  1. ensuring access to and availability of the absolute best cancer care
  2. providing essential support for children, survivors and families
  3. conducting childhood cancer research
  4. providing ongoing professional development opportunities

For more information visit pogo.ca

Upcoming: Gala of Light in support of Street Haven
The Sharp Book for Men SS14 VIP event at Design Exchange

Nick Lee

Editor and Photos at BestOfToronto.net