It’s no secret that we love what we do, and we love it even more when what we do is all for a great cause. Enter our latest charity event project, the inaugural Gloves on Gala, which was transitioned out of a hugely successful annual fundraiser put on for 19 years by Bill Brooks. The torch passed this year to Women for Men’s Health, a group working closely with Calgary’s Prostate Cancer Centre to raise awareness and funds for men’s health, change men’s attitudes toward their own health, and involve women in the process of supporting men’s health. With Dustin and Renée serving on the planning committee, we were excited and honoured to sponsor this amazing event, which you can read more about in our event profile right here.
To go along with the profile, let’s run down some of our favourite things about the 2018 Gloves on Gala:
1. The people we worked with
Yes, this almost goes without saying but we’re saying it anyway. The rest of the planning committee, including the dedicated members of Women for Men’s Health and Bill Brooks, were so fantastic to work with. It was exciting and rewarding for us to add our creative input on décor and our ideas for fundraising activations and sponsorship opportunities to their incredible vision for the event.
Working with Brandsmith for the first time was a pleasure, and of course we love any chance we get to connect and collaborate with our friends at Hotel Arts, who nailed it with the food and of course the venue (take a quick peek at three reasons you’ll love working with them too).
2. Using our efforts to get more people involved in men’s health
A big goal of the committee during the event’s development phase was to make the Gala, and the cause, accessible to both men and women. After all, men’s health affects families and communities, not just men alone. We made sure the décor, the activations, and other aspects of the event were not geared toward a specific group or gender, and the committee as a whole did a fantastic job of marketing the event with a clear and strong message.
3. The Hand Wall
One of our favourite activations also proved to be one of the night’s crowd favourites: part fundraising initiative, part innovative art piece, guests made $100 donations in order to have their hand imprinted into the 8’ x 11’ foam “Hand Wall.” The end result was a 3-dimensional art piece that symbolized a commitment to “lending a hand” to men’s health. After bringing this idea to the table, we sourced the foam material to make it happen and were excited to see it capture so much attention at the Gala.
4. Smashing through the goal
The boxing gloves incorporated into the Gala’s décor ended up being appropriate in more ways than intended, as the evening’s fundraising goals were soundly knocked out before the end of the night. The live auction raised approximately $60,000 and the silent auction $25,000, and altogether the event’s total blew everyone away. Make sure you check out our profile here to see the final amount, and more photos of the night.
It doesn’t stop there!
The work doesn’t end for Women for Men’s Health and the Prostate Cancer Centre when the lights go off at the Gala, of course. They have many important initiatives to come this year, including the Man Van, Canada’s first and only mobile men’s health clinic offering free prostate cancer testing for men ages 40-80. Future plans also include a wide-scope men’s health centre, run out of the Prostate Cancer Centre, and funds raised through the Gloves on Gala will help to fund this vision. The success of the inaugural Gala just has us more excited than ever about the possibilities for supporting a cause that’s genuinely near to our hearts. We encourage you to support men’s health, and we’d love to see you at next year’s Gala.
Event photos: Edward Ross Photography
