Calling it a million dollar party, CEO Liz Forer announced that the largest free clinic in the nation raised $1 million for patient care at its annual Silver Circle Thank You dinner.
About 400 guests gathered at the Beverly Hills Hotel to bestow its Humanitarian Award to writer, producer, director and creator John Wells ( ER, West Wing) and his wife Marilyn for their decade-long support of VFC’s pediatric program.
In his acceptance speech, Wells said, “On ER we can rehearse, change what we don’t like and wash away the scars but the Venice Family Clinic is on the barricades everyday doing great work.”
Receiving the Clinic’s Irma Colen Leadership Award was Carol Archie, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and past chair of the board of directors for the Clinic.
“The clinic prevails,” Archie said, “because its mission to improve the health of people and communities through accessible, quality care is the driving force that unites volunteers, staff and supporters. Our country is stronger when every individual is healthy enough to contemplate the future and their proper role in it.”
In its first-ever Community Service Award, the Clinic honored Pfizer Inc. for providing, through its “Sharing the Care” program, $5.5 million worth of Pfizer pharmaceuticals in the last decade and $1.4 million in the last year alone. The program enables VFC to provide its patients who suffer from chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, hypertension and depression, with the very best medications at no cost.
Warner Bros Studios and honorary co-chairs author Michael Crichton, Tom Hansen, CAA’s Kevin Huvane and NBC’s Jeff Zucker were instrumental in helping the Clinic to reach its $1 million goal.
