Saint Martin's President’s Gala to be held on November 6

October 28, 2010

Lacey, Washington — Saint Martin’s University will hold its fifth annual President’s Gala at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound on Saturday, November 6. The President’s Gala is the University’s major fall fundraising event, with the proceeds going to student scholarships, including scholarships for academic merit, athletics, and fine arts talent. Last year’s gala raised $176,000 – the largest amount raised in the event’s history.

The gold sponsors for this year’s gala are America’s Credit Union (ACU), Capitol City Press, Chicago Title, and Lucky Eagle Casino. The silver sponsors are Assend Dragon Aviation, Charles Schwab, Terry ’62 and Mary Louise ’60 Monaghan, Olympia Federal Savings, Saint Martin’s Alumni Association, Setina Manufacturing Company, and Showcase Magazine. Saint Martin’s alumni and Board of Trustee members Dick Roney ’64 and Dino Batali ’59 are the event co-chairs.

The President’s Gala will feature dinner, dancing, live music, and both a silent and live auction. The silent auction includes over 100 items and packages up for bid from many local and regional businesses. The live auction includes over thirty specialty items this year that have never been seen before in the South Puget Sound, including travel packages for Hawaii and Pumpkin Ridge; a wine tour on horseback in McMinnville, Oregon; a Mariners luxury suite-with-catering-for-twenty; season tickets to Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre; a private tour-and-lunch at Salumi restaurant in Seattle; a behind-the-scenes tour of the Starbucks Roasting Plant in Kent; and dinner for six at Mario Batali’s Babbo restaurant in New York City.

“Financial aid is often the deciding factor in whether a student attends Saint Martin's University, or even whether they will attend college at all,” says Katie Wojke, Saint Martin’s University’s director of development. “The President's Gala is addressing this important need by dedicating the proceeds of the event to institutional scholarships so that Saint Martin’s can continue to offer its Catholic, Benedictine education to a new generation of students.”

For more information about the President’s Gala, please contact Special Events at 360-486-8885 or specialevents@stmartin.edu. Or visit the event website at www.stmartin.edu/gala.

Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, Catholic, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 22 majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education, and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes 1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 650 more to its extension campuses located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Everett College, Centralia College, and Tacoma Community College.