Brooks: Rouge Garden Party raises funds for men and girls

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It simply doesn’t get any better than the trifecta of fabulous food, friendship and fundraising. The Rouge Garden Party, held June 9, featured all three, and more. The event was attended by a capacity crowd of 200 guests and raised $80,000 (net) to be split equally between Simon House Recovery Centre and Safe Haven Foundation.

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Founded in 1982, Simon House guides and empowers men to achieve long-term recovery from addiction. The invaluable organization operates four buildings and 66 beds which provide three distinct phases of addiction treatment and recovery. More than 5,500 men have benefitted from Simon House’s core values of compassion, acceptance, respect, integrity, accountability and innovation.

Safe Haven Foundation was established in 1996 by the dynamic Karen and John Sherbut. Their mission was to develop a program dedicated to keeping homeless and at-risk teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 24, safe, off the streets and in school. Its founding program, Haven’s Way, duplicates that of a loving and supportive family environment providing homeless and at-risk girls with the support they need, ensuring they can realize their full potential. That 100 per cent of the girls living at Haven’s Way furthered their education is a testament to the success of the program.

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Highlights of the evening were numerous including silent and live auction items – the latter garnering top dollars thanks to auctioneer extraordinaire Bill Brown and his team, skillful emceeing from Beesley, powerful addresses from organization board members and alumni, and fabulous fare.

Among the 200 guests in attendance were: Rouge co-owners Olivier Reynaud and Paul Rogalski; Safe Haven co-founders John and Karen Sherbut with their sons Michael and Andrew and their partners Lauralee Greenlaw and Kadie Hummel; Mackenzie and Jeff Schultz; Safe Haven Foundation’s Carolyn Holloway; Reeves College practicum student Machaila Jensen; Haven’s Way alumnus Taina Velsink; Safe Haven support coach Heidi Griffin; Simon House president and CEO John Rook; Simon House chief administration officer Priya Reynaud; On A Dime Transformations founder Kelly Lydiard with colleague Alan Frank, director of program delivery; Recovery Coaches of Alberta’s Steve Gaspar and Kimberly Barlow; Simon House board members Nav Shergill, Susan Boon and Patrick Merz; Recovery Acres executive director Stian Rorstad; Simon House board chair Shawn Lavoie and vice-chair Mike Cullen; Remember When Ranch’s Jim Coleman; Remington Development Corporation’s Ryan Remington and his wife Caley; SBSW owner and Safe Haven board member Cam MacCorquodale (and here, I must congratulate Cam on being inducted into the Haven’s Angels Hall of Fame this night); Crystal Creek Homes’ Justin Bobier and his wife Lucia Ocampo with WestJet; and others pictured.