LIFE & STYLE: #5StarShelter

We’ve all been to Charity Galas, where we sit down in a fancy banquet room, enjoy a 5-star meal, and raise money to help others. #5StarShelter is just like that, but totally different. We threw a different kind of Charity Gala; one where the women of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side got to sit down and enjoy the 5star meal in a fancy room, and we were the ones serving them.

Most of the women we invited to attend #5StarShelter, have never had a fine dining experience, or felt the dignity of actually being served – something most of us take for granted. The simple fact that they didn’t have to wait in line, was a welcome luxury. We worked with the Atira Women’s Resource Society, to plan this surprise dinner for the residents of their shelter on Dunlevy.

#5StarShelter was a project close to LeLe’s heart, and would not have been possible without the AMAZING support of so many talented Vancouver wedding vendors and some pretty incredible friends. We had an overwhelming number of volunteers and donations, and so many people who simply wanted to be involved in any way they could! So thank you, to all of you who lent us your time, your talents, or your treasure, in order to treat some pretty wonderful ladies to a gala affair.

The event was nothing short of a HUGE success, every moment of the evening was priceless and literally had a lot of eyes watering – with happy tears of course!

The talent who made it happen:

Event Sponsors
Drew Cooks! Catering Services
A&B Party Rentals
Jonetsu
DeLovely Creative
The Flower Factory
Butter Studios Photography
Art of the Party
True Blue Event Rentals
Debut Event Design
Upright Decor
DJ Kasha Kennedy
Kunioo Photo & Cinema 
Photobooth Vancouver

Gift Sponsors
Smoochable
Tracey Knapton Thody
Maizie Thorleifson
Pixie Riddle
Daniela Ciuffa-Syskakis
Cristina Samper Pearl
John & Marg Vriend
Vasia Weddings

Event Volunteers
Vashti Bautista
Camille Fortin-Bensler
Chadwick Bensler
Sarah Braim
Allan Chan
LeLe Chan
Jayna Marie Damasco
Curtis Doucette
Alicia Keats
Victoria Kovacs
Johanna McFarland
Adam Meagher
Jessica Minnie
Andrew Munro
L’nielle Pantoja
Melissa Pereira
Gordon Purchase
Maria Rivera
Jenna Smith
Tracey Knapton Thody
Derek Thody
Margot Bower Watt
Kelsey Vriend
Henry Zhang