By Daily Press staff
Big money and big stars are behind the success of a local hospital.
Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife, actor and producer Rita Wilson, were honored earlier this month as the 2005 Caritas Award recipients for their outstanding community service at the Saint John’s Health Center Caritas Gala.
More than 800 guests attended the sold-out event, which raised more than $1 million in support of Saint John’s. The Caritas Gala was held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.
Actress Bonnie Hunt (“Life with Bonnie”) presented the award to Hanks and Wilson, who have been longtime champions of Saint John’s Health Center, where their two sons were born.
Also honored at the event was Glen McDaniel, retired chairman of the executive committee of Litton Industries Inc., who received the Spirit of Saint John’s Award for 25 years of volunteer service to the Health Center. McDaniel, a trustee and past chairman of the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, helped rebuild Saint John’s after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The Caritas Gala was hosted by the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation and the Irene Dunne Guild, a support group of the hospital. With a membership of 75 women, the Irene Dunne Guild provides a variety of volunteer services and philanthropic support to Saint John’s.
In addition to hosting the Caritas Gala, the Irene Dunne Guild helped fund the new Saint John’s Mobile Blood Donor Center and created the “Angels of the ER” program to provide non-medical assistance to emergency room patients and their families.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 26, 2005. Read the original PDF.