TORRANCE, CA, December 26, 2018 – Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s 35th annual week-long Holiday Festival raised more than $1.5 million towards
the construction of the Hunt Cancer Center. This facility, which will
consolidate Torrance Memorial’s cancer care and services into one
location, will also host research in partnership with Cedars-Sinai. It
is expected to open in fall of 2019.
“Each year Holiday Festival not only rings in the holiday season
with an experience that engages and delights the senses, but also raises
millions of dollars to support Torrance Memorial,” said Laura Schenasi,
executive vice president, Torrance Memorial Foundation. “We are
fortunate to have a generous community and an army of dedicated volunteers
who helped make this event a huge success. Without them, we would not
be able to raise the amount we did for the Hunt Cancer Center.”
Additional festival highlights include donations during the gala’s
“Gifts from the Heart” of $150,000 each by Cindy and Paul
Campbell and Billee and John Gogian, $100,000 by Loraine and Ralph Scriba
and $50,000 by Sam and Rose Feng. Seventy additional donors also raised
their paddles to pledge, bringing the grand total raised by “Gifts
from the Heart” to nearly $848,000.
For the gala’s live auction, Russ Varon and Morgan’s Jewelers
Torrance donated a white gold-framed Aquamarine and Diamond Necklace,
won by Priscilla Hunt with a winning bid of $19,000. The Torrance Memorial
Foundation Board and its generous friends and donors contributed a wine
lot of exceptional vintages. Russell Varon won this item with a bid of $24,000.
Andrea and Michael Zislis donated two dinners and wine pairings for 10
at the Strand House Private Cellar. Jack and Ayne Baker and Ralph and
Sigrid Allman won these items with bids of $10,000. Andrea and Michael
Zislis also donated an exclusive Chef’s Dinner prepared by four
chefs for five couples, again won by Jack Baker with a bid of $13,000.
As a bonus to the week’s festivities, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
donated a 2019 Lexus as the grand prize in the Opportunity Drawing which
raised an estimated $45,000. Torrance Memorial Medication Safety Officer
Wendy Waldman purchased the winning ticket.
Festival sponsors included
Festival Benefactors – Billee and John Gogian;
Festival Sponsors –Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian - TF Educational Foundation, and
Torrance Memorial Medical Staff;
Dinner Sponsors – Ayne and Jack Baker, Cindy and Paul Campbell, COR HealthCare, Ofelia
and Emmanuel David – Heritage Care, LLC, The Graziadio Family, Kinecta
Federal Credit Union, Keenan HealthCare, and Warren Lichtenstein –
Steel Partners, and Nixon Peabody LLP,; and
In-Kind Benefactors – G.S. Brothers, Inc., Choura Events, Morgan’s Jewelers Torrance,
Morrow Meadows Corporation, Redondo Van & Storage, Rolling Hills Flower
Mart Studio, Toyota, and The Zislis Group.
Carolyn Snyder and Bev George served as the festival’s co-chairs.
For information about the Holiday Festival, call the Torrance Memorial
Foundation at 310-517-4703 or visit
www.TorranceMemorial.org/HolidayFestival.
About Torrance Memorial Medical Center
Founded in 1925 by Jared Sidney and Helena Childs Torrance, Torrance Memorial
Medical Center is a 512-bed, nonprofit medical center established to provide
quality health care services predominantly to the residents of the South
Bay, Peninsula and Harbor communities. Torrance Memorial seeks to offer
the most current and effective medical technologies rendered in a compassionate,
caring manner. No longer just a hospital, today Torrance Memorial Medical
Center includes an extensive integrated system of physicians and comprehensive
medical services to provide coordinated communication and continuum of
care. Torrance Memorial is affiliated with Cedars-Sinai under the umbrella
of Cedars-Sinai Health System. Torrance Memorial’s nursing program
has earned coveted Magnet® recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which recognizes
nursing excellence.
U.S. News & World Report also ranked Torrance Memorial as one of the best hospitals for 2017-18
in California and the Los Angeles metro area for the sixth straight year.
For more information, please visit:
www.TorranceMemorial.org.