We would like to thank everyone who supported the 12th George Smith Partners
A-T Luncheon on April 17, 2007. It was a great success, with 1,100 people in
attendance and over $400,000 raised for the A-T Medical Research Foundation and
City of Hope. This was the first year that GSP and City of Hope teamed up to
co-sponsor the event, an appropriate coalition since there is a proven
connection between the presence of the mutated A-T gene and cancer. George
Smith would have been very proud of how the real estate community stepped up,
once again, to support the Foundation to which he had dedicated so much of his
passion.
The Smith Family (Pam and their three children – Jim, Jill and Matthew) pointed
out that A-T researchers are making great advances toward finding a cure and
believe that commencement of clinical trials of potential treatments are now
possible within the next three years. Now is the time to support a tremendous
push toward the finish line; researchers at UCLA and Tel Aviv University
continue to work to understand the disease and find a cure, but financial
support is needed.
The keynote speaker, Frank McCourt, Jr., who has owned the Dodgers for three
years, talked about philanthropy and the Dodger franchise’s commitment to the
community. He described their Core Values, which include:
1. To field a championship caliber team year in and year out. As he
said, winning isn’t everything, that is why there are three core values. But
still, he wants to set the bar at excellence.
2. To provide Dodger fans the best experience in baseball. He discussed
progress being made on the three biggest issues for fans: (1) Condition of the
seats: all seats were removed and replaced last year as part of a total
structure renovation; (2) Parking: A new system is being implemented. After
some initial “bugs”, the new system has worked better during the last two
sellouts; (3) Lines at the concession stands: The entire concourse will be
renovated after this season with more “sale points” for food and more
bathrooms. This will be done by opening day next year. He pointed out that it
will take $100 Million to fix all three.
3. To be a model franchise for community involvement. The Dodgers partner with
3,400 non-profits and 1,400 schools, touching over 500,000 people a year. Their
involvement focuses on youth sports and recreation, education and literacy,
health and healthcare and the environment.
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