The Yonge Street Mission looked to the Royal Ontario Museum’s new exhibition—“The Nature of Diamonds”—to provide the inspiration for the organization’s second annual Bright Lights gala, held at the museum Thursday evening. Although the event wasn’t timed to coincide with the new exhibit, Barbara Walkden, director of development for the mission, said it seemed an obvious choice to follow suit.
Designer Sinclair Russell filled the museum’s Hyacinth Gloria Chen Crystal Court with silver and white balloons, and the 300 attendees received entry into the diamond exhibit following the two-hour fund-raiser, which featured a fashion show with designs from the likes of Arthur Mendonca, Franco Mirabelli, Thien Le, and Brian Bailey. (Each designer donated gift vouchers for clothing, which guests had the opportunity to win.) An appraiser from Waddington's Auctioneers & Appraisers was also on hand to assess the value of guests' jewels.
“It’s all to raise funds for our scholarship program,” Walkden said of the event, which benefits young people who attend programs at the mission’s Evergreen Centre for Street Youth and the Community Centre in Regent Park. “When people think of the mission, this is a very different event for us. But we are able to add so much to our scholarship program, and we don’t spend a lot on the event because so much is donated.”
