Making a Bid for Summer

Summer is on its way out. Going once. Going twice. Gone.

Such has been the ephemeral down season of 2009. But it isn’t disappearing without incident.

I’ve been part of a whack of great auctions this summer. Among the best was the Rally for Kids with Cancer, this star-studded gala to raise money for the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Padres Contra El Cancer. Run by Solutions with Impact, out of Toronto, this was a killer sit-down dinner for 500 at a private mansion in Bel Air whose genuine highlight, for me, was sharing the stage with Eva Longoria (of Desperate Housewives fame) and Adam Rodriguez (from CSI Miami).


At one point, I organized this spur-of-the-moment little comedy bit on stage with Eva and Adam that went over really well with the guests. The crowd went wild.

For this one, I auctioned off various travel packages and one-of-a-kind specialty items, like red-carpet walks for movie premieres, and weeks at interesting houses in exotic locations. When the dust settled, we had raised some $400,000 for this amazing cause.

Then there was the annual oyster festival at Rodney’s Oyster House in Toronto. This one’s a fundraiser with proceeds going to Environmental Defence. This year’s event, given a CSI-inspired title, Lemons and Oysters: Special Eaters Unit, included the highlighted addition of a dunk tank. The head of Environmental Defence was one of the guys who got dunked, as was Rodney himself. Twenty people tried before I stepped up and dunked him in one. He hasn’t talked to me since.


I auctioned off different packages for Rodney's cause, including a wine vacation to Niagara-on-the-Lake and a trip to an oyster festival in PEI, with airfare and lodging. More than 700 people came out for it.

The other event was an auction at the Ontario Science Centre—the LG Innovators Ball. The theme this year was Femme Fatale, an Evening of Intrigue. Seamus O’Regan from Canada AM, dressed as James Bond, was the master of ceremonies, and Ben and Jessica Mulroney served as honourary cochairs. There were 464 dinner guests and 845 attendees for the party that followed. We raised over $100,000 for the Science Centre.


I do some 65 auctions for registered charities every year, free of charge. Another among them was this year’s Canadian Film Centre party. Eugene Levy was the emcee and I was the auctioneer (see photo). In his intro, Eugene told the crowd that some 20 years earlier, he emceed an amateur comedy festival in Toronto whose featured acts included Jim Carrey, Howie Mandel and a young man named Jay Mandarino. What an honour it was to share a stage with him—then, and now.

Going, going maybe… But not yet gone.