Bruce Fessier • The Desert Sun • February 22, 2009
The Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards took a page from the Palm Springs International Film Festival script Saturday with the most star-studded gala in its 15-year history.
But some of these honorees sang.
Barry Manilow and actresses Bebe Neuwirth and Kristin Chenoweth were among the honorees. Presenters included actor B.D. Wong, Poz Magazine Editor Regan Hofmann and Suzanne Somers, who made a surprise appearance to present Manilow with the Silver Anniversary Community Service Award. TV stars Morgan Fairchild, Linda Gray and Donna Mills were hostesses. Tony Award-winning actress Diahann Carroll, an Emmy nominee last year for “Grey's Anatomy,” entertained.
But, before Carroll could sing a note, Chenoweth wowed the crowd singing the old standard, “You'll Never Know,” dedicated to her college music instructor, who died of AIDS.
Then Manilow sang a song that had just been played in Australia as part of its national day of mourning following their deadly fires, “One Voice,” which applies to just about any good cause.
The focus of this evening in the Palm Springs Convention Center was the Desert AIDS Project's 25-year battle against AIDS.
Attendance was 1,350 — short of its record of 1,650 set three years ago, but sponsorships increased, thanks partly to a $150,000 title sponsorship by co-chairman Jim Casey's Integrated Wealth Management. Casey said they generated $100,000 more than last year's record of $1.1 million, not counting the live and what was expected to be the largest silent auction ever.
“The DAP has come a long ways since volunteers like Steve Chase persuaded (McDonald's hamburger mogul) Joan Kroc to gift us with the money that built our first medical clinic,” added Curtis Ringness, Desert AIDS Project board president. “Today, we offer care, prevention and advocacy services to an area roughly the size of Massachusetts.”
Manilow, one of the first celebrities to support the AIDS battle as the performer at Elizabeth Taylor's first AIDS benefit, said he had never received an award for his community work.
“I'm so happy to finally receive an award where I don't have to thank Clive Davis,” he joked about his long-time record label chief.
“This is a community and this is my community. I'm so happy to be here. ... I've met the greatest people here, from the waitresses at El Mirasol ... I just love it. This community has changed my life.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the government's leading AIDS researchers and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was perhaps the face of this AIDS campaign. He earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year for creating the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to treat and prevent HIV infections in African and the Caribbean.
Hofmann, who was infected with HIV by her boyfriend 12 years ago, called Fauci “the model for all of us who rage against the frustrations of this virus.”
Fauci said before the gala Congress should vote this spring on a $48 billion appropriation bill to continue PEPFAR.
Neuwirth and Chenoweth shared the Arts and Activism Award.
Bill Jones, recipient of the Partners for Life Award, recalled how the first gala named after Chase, a philanthropic interior designer who died of AIDS, drew “maybe 100 guests.” This year, he noted, “there must be 120 working volunteers.”
DAP volunteer Harriet Goldberg received the 100 Women Award, saying, “If we are ever going to defeat HIV and AIDS, education and prevention are the name of the game.”
The DAP serves more than 2,300 individuals and provides services to 30 to 40 new clients a month. |
