Celebrity Serenade
Major Dallas altruists get star treatment at glitzy centennial gala for Children's Medical Center
To honor an incredible milestone for Children’s Medical Center — 100 years — event chairs Janelle and Larry Friedman welcomed more than 850 supporters and board members to a spectacular centennial gala at the Omni Dallas.
To start off a new century on the right note, Jennifer Hudson and the Pointer Sisters serenaded some of the most noteworthy philanthropists in Dallas, including Margot and Ross Perot, Lynn McBee, Caren Kline, Marnie and Kern Wildenthal, Jill and Michael Dardick, and Christina and Christopher Durovich. An especially heart-warming tribute featured kids from the Dallas Children's Theater and patients who were treated at Children’s. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Alliance Data was another shining star of the evening, serving as presenting sponsor, with a $1 million gift to the medical center.
Children’s Medical Center has come a long way since 1913 when a group of nurses organized an open-air clinic on the lawn of the old Parkland Hospital. The nurses recognized that children received better care when it was focused on them, and their vision has grown into the fifth-largest pediatric healthcare provider in the nation.