It was an emotional evening for business leaders from across the city who, even as they enjoyed fine cuisine, were reminded that, for many in the community, food is scarcer than ever.
On Friday, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier joined forces with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe to host the inaugural Mayor’s Charity Ball, called the Gold Hearts Gala, held in support of the Ottawa Food Bank.
“I really hope this is the beginning of something special,” said Sutcliffe. “It’s the first time we’re doing this, but I really hope it’s not the last.”
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Guests donned suits and evening gowns and enjoyed wine and cocktails in the hotel’s historic ballroom. They were greeted by circus performers juggling, hula hooping, and towering over their heads on stilts. In one vestibule, an aerialist dressed in glittering gold poured champagne.
Through ticket sales, raffle tickets, auction items and generous donations from the 300 guests, the amount raised continued climbing throughout the evening to reach a total of $1.3 million.
“I’m absolutely blown away,” Rachael Wilson, CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank, told OBJ. “The support in this room is amazing. We really didn’t know what to expect tonight. We do know Ottawa’s very generous, but we really had no idea how much people would step up to support the Ottawa Food Bank.”
The food bank works with more than 100 partners across the city, including shelters, community food banks and after-school programs, to help people who are food insecure. Wilson said 37 per cent – about 17,000 – of those who access services are children.
It’s been a tough year for food banks across the country and, according to Wilson, Ottawa is no exception, with 2025 not expected to be any easier.
“Unfortunately, we’re expecting at least a 15 per cent increase in the number of visits to food banks this coming year,” she said. “That’s dependent on what comes in the next couple of months in terms of job stability and so on. We rely on donations from the community and we know people are feeling it right across the city, so donations are a little bit slower.”
The reality of the situation for the food bank hit audience members hard. During her speech, as guests prepared to dig into their entrees, Wilson outlined how much the food bank’s costs have increased, to exclamations of shock from the crowd.
“We’re having to spend even more money than we ever had,” she said. “Before, we used to spend $1.4 million on food in the Ottawa Food Bank. This year, we’ll spend $9.8 million. That’s in addition to the $11 million that we’ll get in donated food and, unfortunately, it still will not be enough.”
Donations from the evening will go toward covering the increased costs.
Guests bid on silent auction items and local auctioneer Ryan Watson sold a variety of luxury getaways and sports experiences.
But his work wasn’t done when the gavel came down on the final item of the evening. Jeff York, CEO of Altea Active, who was not present at the event, had agreed beforehand to match up to $50,000 of money raised in the live auction. While the items themselves raised $31,500, what followed was a string of $5,000 donations from guests and an additional $10,000 from the Ottawa Senators Foundation. In all, the amount raised came to $255,000.
The night ended with a bang when former Ottawa Food Bank CEO Michael Maidment announced that his current organization, the Ottawa Community Foundation, would donate $1 million to the cause.
“This issue is very close to me,” he told guests. “I led the organization for seven years and the situation that Rachael described is far worse than it was when I left the organization … I approached my board last week and said we need to find some money to support the Ottawa Food Bank. So I’m thrilled that the Ottawa Community Foundation will make a special contribution of $1 million.”
Geneviève Dumas, general manager of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, said she was thrilled that the evening was a success.
“My team really wanted to do something for the community, to throw an event and give back,” Dumas told OBJ. “The idea of this came and the mayor was just so great within that. We’ve been working on this for like a year now and it’s just amazing.”
She added that she intends for this gala to be “the first of a tradition.”