October 14, 2011
At The Mansion on Main Street in Voorhees, NJ.
Featuring the Band Don’t Call Me Francis
The board members of the Johnny M Foundation would like to thank all of our family, friends, business associates and sponsors who helped make the first annual JMF Gala an enormous success. The Mansion on Main Street in Voorhees, NJ provided an outstanding venue to complement the remarkable efforts of all our volunteers, who helped make the event a truly fun-filled evening. Local businesses from our area donated marvelous prizes, and the money raised at our first annual gala will greatly help the foundation reach its goal to purchase Johnny’s House in Orlando, Florida by the spring of 2012
The evening’s highlights began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the first floor of the Mansion, accompanied by a jazz duo, a Kettle One Martini Bar donated by Canals of Hainesport, a large display of gift baskets (26 total) donated by local businesses, Silent Auction prizes (25 premium items), outstanding top-shelf Live Auction items, and our Diamond Chance prize, sponsored by Bernie Robbins Jewelers – a pair of 3.2 carat diamond hoop earrings. Each guest who purchased a Diamond Chance ticket received a $100-gift certificate, from Bernie Robbins. In addition, a 50/50 raffle and an IPod Touch2 drawing were held.
At the conclusion of cocktails, the gala moved to the third floor for a delectable sit-down dinner, heartfelt speeches by Patti and John Murabito and special guest, Oi Yin Gonzalez, a For Pete’s Sake Cancer Respite Foundation recipient. Prizes were awarded and gala attendees were treated to a fun evening of dancing to music from The Don’t Call Me Francis Band. We closed down the house at 1:00 AM with all the guests going outside to release the balloons from each table’s centerpiece (comprised of Johnny’s favorite toys and books wrapped in cellophane, tied with eight black and one pink balloon for Johnny’s 9th birthday which was on October 14th) and sang “Happy Birthday” in the evening’s final tribute to Johnny. Our guests will be happy to know that Patti and John donated the toys to Cradles to Crayons and the books went to Johnny’s Playhouse at the Ronald McDonald House-SNJ.
