St. Francis Hosts Miracles XXIII

Sue Scherer remembers when no one was exactly sure what to expect when a group of St. Francis hospital supporters decided to throw fundraising gala in the late 1980s.

“We decided to hold it on a floor at the Goodwin Hotel,” said Scherer, who, with her husband, Hank Scherer, was attending her 23^rd annual Miracles Gala at the Connecticut Convention Center. “But then we had so many people who wanted to come we decided to add another floor as well but the fire marshal told us it was too many people for the building,” she said. “We scrambled and held the first gala at University of Hartford and we ended up with about 1,200 people our first year.”

On Saturday, the gala attracted about 1,400 people who not only came to wine and dine and dance, but to help support the hospital’s new Comprehensive Women’s Health Center.

“We expect the center to be done in about a year,” said hospital president and CEO Chris Dadlez. “We are very excited to be providing such state-of-the-art facilities for women and their heath care needs.”

And while the black-tie event attracted a who’s who of Hartford area doctors, supporters, politicians and corporate leaders who could have talked about any number of subjects, it was the UConn football team’s win over Maryland and the showdown between  UConn coach Paul Pasqueloni and former UConn coach Randy Edsall that had a lot of people talking.

“I love it when UConn wins,” enthused XL Center’s Bob Crawford who attended with fiancée Kathleen Shea. “And this one was sweet.”

For well-known politico and Atty. Peter Kelly, the evening included some last-minute dressing in the garage for wife, Susan Kelly.

“We are just coming back from Vermont so I’m doing still getting ready here,” she said smiling in the convention center garage. “It’s been a busy day.”

For more gala pictures go to: http://cour.at/PxMVqe