Known & Loved Gala

It was three years in the making, but what a night for Selwyn House School! Thanks to the Selwyn House School community, the Known & Loved Gala raised over $306,000 (net) bringing The Hannaford-Doherty Mental Health and Wellness Fund total to over $321,000. 

Selwyn House students greeted 300 guests who enjoyed a lively cocktail leading up to the main event. It had been seven years since the last gala and everyone was in the party mood and happy to be in the gorgeous space at Maison Principale. Emcees Liam Nicol ’14 and Henry Jones ’14 brought their Selwyn humour to the podium and kept the evening moving. A video by Will Rossy ’16 reiterated why everyone had gathered that night.

Headmaster Mike Downey welcomed the guests expressing his gratitude for establishing a fund that will see Selwyn House staff trained and certified annually by Mental Health First Aid Canada, helping them to identify and address mental health problems when first apparent. SHS Staff spoke to the importance of the fund in this video.

Retired Dean of Students Minna Shulman gave some background on how the focus on mental health and wellness at Selwyn House came to be. “Susan and Hal’s greatest contribution is putting a known and loved face on the real issues and challenges of mental health. From his first faculty meeting in 2009, with the reminder that at any one moment at least 20% of us were going through a hard time in terms of our own emotional and mental health–to his leadership in bringing mindfulness training to Selwyn House and starting every student assembly with a mindfulness exercise–to Susan and Hal’s open sharing of their interwoven struggles with Hal’s mental illness and Susan’s dire health issues. They have elevated our knowledge and understanding of mental health, and have humanized and normalized the issues through their presentations.” 

Gala Chair, Roula Rossy, gave her thanks to the gala donors and to all who were involved in the event. She spoke from the heart about the honouree and his legacy, “Tonight, we honour retired Headmaster Hal Hannaford and his beautiful wife Susan. Hal’s legacy of instilling Veritas and its guiding principles in our students, faculty and staff continues to live on. Today, feeling “Known & Loved” at Selwyn House is more present than ever, under the leadership of Headmaster Mike Downey.” Roula presented Hal with a Veritas Golden Tie and a Veritas Visionary Certificate!

Hal and Susan thanked those gathered and later shared a heartfelt message with guests (see below). Hal did double duty as the auctioneer waving his mallet until over $70,000 was raised. Ian Aitken ’81 was the happy grand prize recipient of diamond earrings! The band, Sophistoccasion, kept everyone moving on the dance floor for the rest of the night. 

Gala Committee:
Roula Rossy (Chair), Karen Anderson, Kari Cullen, Lorna Denham, Anne Garschagen, Ann Carolyn Lapierre-Blaise, Susanna Accurso Lorenzetti, Luisa Matheus Samper, Leslie Silver Staff: Kimberly Auclair, Mary Ann Cloherty, Sharon Cozens, Rafaela Petel Ruiz, Jean-Pierre Trudeau

Dear Selwyn House Community:

 

Known & Loved was alive and well last night, and no one felt the impact more than the two of us. We are both grateful for every effort that was made to ensure this all-important concept will be sustained beyond the gala. You created something almost palpable, very special and so magical. We know the significance of mental wellness, and our hope is to help remove the shame, and stigma of conditions like depression and anxiety, shed light on mental health, celebrate our flaws and deficits, and encourage our broad community to know that options exist. We call it the gift of trauma. It builds inner strength, and resilience, and makes us more kind, more tolerant, and more accepting.  What could be more important? There will always be much more to do, and we cannot afford to let up, but what happened last night is an inspiration for us to keep moving forward. We will.

 

Together with Alisse and Reid, we adore the Selwyn House community. The commitment to Known & Loved is real and sustainable, and over time, more and more will see the difference this will make. Repeated at so many parent assemblies, was the grand question: What really matters?

 

Thank you once again for your belief and support.  We both have a memory that will remain forever.

 

With much love, respect, and admiration,

 

Hal & Susan 

Auctioneer, Hal Hannaford

Art et Fleurs

Autobus Limo

The Chop House

Lorna & Michael Denham

Diamants Elinor

Laura Louttit & Mike Downey

Groupe Marcelle

Groupe Plaza Management Group

Susanna & Mark Lorenzetti

Filip MeŠár

Milos Restaurant

Geoff Molson and le Club de hockey Canadien

Musée des Beaux Arts Montréal

Leslie Silver & Laurent Ferreira

Sofitel Montréal - Olivier Perret, Chef Exécutif and his team

Selwyn House School

Juraj Slafkovsky