The Semiahmoo Foundation raised close to $60,000 last month for affordable and inclusive housing in South Surrey at its Gala of Shooting Stars event.
Held at Hazelmere Golf & Tennis Club, the Oct. 21 event – a spinoff of the foundation’s Taste of BC’s Finest fundraiser –attracted 210 people.
A Taste of BC’s Finest, which ran consecutively for 12 years, was not held last year as the foundation brainstormed ways to revamp the annual fundraiser, said event planner Deena Safi.
The new gala featured about 10 vendors for a wine and cocktail tasting reception that led into a three-course dinner. It featured a speaking program where they could highlight South Surrey’s Chorus development – a 71-unit, $15.4-million building for people with developmental disabilities and units of affordable rental housing that launched one year ago after 13 years of planning.
Money raised through the gala is dedicated to a construction similar to the Chorus development.
Safi said Semiahmoo House owns land in South Surrey for the proposed project.
“We’d like to duplicate and better that model,” she said. “We want to rebuild a second unit like that. We do have properties and land and stuff that we’re considering.”
