Stelmach and Liepert BBQ and golf thier way to a brave new health system

Katz kicks in $500,000 for Stollery

Stelmach vows to match cash

By Nick Lees, Edmonton JournalAugust 31, 2009 8:12 AMComments (2)

Sam Abouhassan was on the golf course in Jasper Saturday when he got a$500,000 call from Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz.
"I'd like to donate the money and name an area in the new Stollery Children's Hospital emergency department after you and Kevin Lowe," said Katz.
"It would be great if the government matched the amount."
Clothier Abouhassan and Lowe, Oilers president of hockey operations, were hoping to raise $1 million at their 10th annual Tee Up For Tots golf game at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
"I'm not involved in the political implications of the funds we raise and suggested to Daryl he contact Jennifer Wood, the president and CEO of the Stollery Foundation," said Abouhassan.
Said Wood: "I spoke to Premier Ed Stelmach after the game and he said he would find the funds to match Daryl's generous offer.
"We need to first see plans for the new pediatric emergency unit. But we would be delighted to name an area after Sam and Kevin."
The Tee Up for Tots game, with its theme of Legends of Golf, Legacy of Giving, raised $2.37 million on the weekend, taking its 10-year total to $6.37 million.
Gord Martin of Telus helped set the giving mood at the post-game banquet at the Lodge by announcing his company had double-matched staff donations and presented Tee Up For Tots a cheque for$205,000.
The live auction raised a total of $309,000, with Lowe and Gord English setting the pace by each paying $30,000 for the right to take a party of 16 to the JPL for golf and an overnight stay.
Gord Reykdal paid $31,000 for dinner with Stelmach and his wife at the home at the home of Abouhassan and his wife Angela.
Don McFadden spent $30,000 on a New York trip to see the Rangers play and have dinner with Glen and Ann Sather and also dine with Mark Messier.
John Hokanson and English each paid $30,000 for four tickets to the Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night in Phoenix and VIP accommodation at a desert resort and spa.
Abouhassan, Jasper's George Andrew and I expect a good workout when we take two parties by freighter canoe to the end of Maligne Lake to camp and fish. A party led by Tony Franceschini, and another led by Doug Goss and Marshall Sadd, each paid $23,000 for the pleasure. It did include a JPL stay, golf and dinner in Papa George's, the restaurant in Andrew's Astoria Hotel.
It had the makings of a good weekend when Glen Sather arrived and a telephone call had to be made to Jasper entrepreneur Peter Hayashi, asking him to bring a bottle of grappa to the JPL. "Does he drink that rubbish?" asked Hayashi, who was warmly thanked by the premier for raising $35,000 for the Stollery in an hour at a breakfast attended by about 100 locals.
Edmonton's Ryan Romanko, in charge of an Investors Group sponsored $50,000 hole-in-one, was so taken by the magic of the weekend he proposed to Amanda Brown.
A special presentation was made to Bruce Saville for supporting all 10 years of the tournament and for being a Stollery board member for 12 years.
Playing in the same golf foursome as Sather was Health Minister Ron Liepert, "I began playing golf when I covered the legislature as a reporter," said Liepert.
"I often play a couple of times a week and love the game because of the people you meet."
Said Sather: "It was an awesome weekend. The people of Edmonton are so generous. They deserve to call their city The City of Champions."
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