The Coral Gables Community Foundation celebrated its annual gala on Friday, Oct. 10, at the Coral Gables Country Club. This year’s event was a “Gables Gatsby Gala,” with themes and decorations inspired by the roaring 1920s and the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby.
The Foundation conducts its annual gala, its largest fundraiser of the year, to honor Coral Gables community leaders in five categories: Sports, Education, Arts & Culture, Community and Legacy.
Each honoree was chosen for recognition of their dedication and service to the Coral Gables community. The 2014 honorees were:
Sports Award Presented by Doctors Hospital Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine: Shane Battier, former Miami Heat star and founder of the Battier Take Charge Foundation, which provides college scholarships for students in the Greater Miami area and across the United States.
Education Award: Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books and co-founder of Miami Book Fair International.
Arts & Culture Award: Lizz Plater-Zyberk, award-winning architect and former Dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture.
Jerry Santeiro Community Award: Mark Trowbridge, president and CEO of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. The Community Award was renamed in 2013 in honor of former Coral Gables Community Foundation chair Jerry Santeiro.
Willy Bermello Legacy Award: Lewis S. “Mike” Eidson, president of Colson Hicks Eidson and chair of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Board of Directors.
The gala featured a Bacardi-sponsored bar, recreational casino-style gambling, silent and live auctions, music, dinner, dancing and the annual awards ceremony.
Baptist Health South Florida was the Platinum Sponsor of the 2014 Gables Gatsby Gala, while Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables, Bacardi and Southern Audio Visual served as Gold Sponsors.
Led by community leaders, the Coral Gables Community foundation provides the philanthropic conduit to connect individuals and corporations looking to positively impact the success of the community.
For almost 25 years, the Foundation has been at the forefront of the evolving needs of Coral Gables while effectively bringing together beneficiaries and benefactors to fund programs with the greatest impact and benefit to The City Beautiful. For more information, visit www.gablesfoundation.org.
