Rich folks giving back…
If you can afford a Ferrari or a Maserati, you are among the fortunate few.
So it was gratifying to witness some 400 people, most of them Ferrari and Maserati owners, attend a fund-raising car rally and dinner auction a couple of Sundays ago.
Organized by Remo Ferri, the local Ferrari and Maserati dealer, in support of Sick Children's Hospital, this was the tenth annual such event.
I attended some of the early ones, which typically started at Ferri's Ferrari dealership in Woodbridge with attendees watching the Italian Grand Prix from Monza on what passed for a big-screen TV back in those days, followed by a few cars jaunting around the countryside for a barbecue.
I was even the auctioneer a couple of times, reaching my personal (at the time) high of $18,000 for a pair of Michael Schumacher racing gloves.
The event still starts at Ferri's dealership, but this year it was the huge, brand-new, as-yet-unopened facility across from his BMW store, also in Woodbridge.
Among the celebrities on hand was Ron Fellows, and the very Ferrari sports car he had won in at Mosport some years ago.
Also in attendance was Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino, driving a cruiser you definitely will not see in regular patrol duty - a Maserati Quattroporte done up in O.P.P livery!
Julian and I agreed that this day would be all about the kids, and we'd leave our traffic safety differences for another time.
Ferri set me out on the rally in a Maserati Gran Turismo. I was bound and determined to win the "scavenger hunt'-type rally, mainly by cheating, using my cell phone to call "my people'' who could look up the answers on the Internet. Hey - I didn't have a navigator!
(I didn’t win…).
But the kids did. At the dinner at The Liberty Grand conference centre at the CNE Grounds, a real auctioneer, Rock Fournier, got people to truly open their wallets. With live and silent auction items, plus the rally entry fee, approximately $300,000 was raised for the hospital on this single day. This brings this event's ten year total to a very impressive $1.5 million.
Congratulations and thanks to all.
