The Finker-Frenkel Foundation Sponsors the 28th Annual InterContinental® Miami Make-A-Wish® Ball, Helping to Raise More than $5 Million for Critically Ill Children
The Finker-Frenkel Foundation was again proud to sponsor Miami’s most highly anticipated charity event—the 28th Annual InterContinental® Miami Make-A-Wish® Ball—which helped the nonprofit exceed its previous fundraising efforts, raising more than $5 million to go toward granting wishes to critically ill children.
Like every year, the ball featured dazzling displays, sumptuous food and star-studded entertainment. This year’s headliner was the GRAMMY Award®-winning legend Sting, who performed for a crowd of 900 guests at the OCULUS “Le Sceptre Rose”-themed event, which captured all the mystique and intrigue of a French whodunnit.
Upon entering, guests were transported to the fictional French art museum, the Musée Mondial d’art, where the world’s most valuable piece of art had gone missing. The gala’s décor paid tribute to 1950s and 1960s spy dramas such as “Goldfinger” and “The New Avengers”. It featured performers in secret-agent garb whisking guests to dinner via a passageway beneath a “Louvre Pyramid”-like setting.
During dinner, guests were captivated by a performance from mentalist Lior Suchard. The evening’s highlight, also presented by the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation, was the highly anticipated set by Grammy Award-winning legend, Sting. He delighted the audience with hits like “Englishman in New York” and “Desert Rose,” as well as fan favorites from The Police, including “Message in a Bottle” and “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.” For his final number, Sting engaged the audience, encouraging them to support Make-a-Wish® Southern Florida, and closed the show with a heartfelt rendition of “Every Breath You Take,” dedicated to the Make-A-Wish® vision.
The true star of the evening, however, was a young girl named Libbi. Diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer as a baby, Libbi is now cancer-free and, thanks to Make-a-Wish, had the opportunity to visit Walt Disney World.
For Make-A-Wish Southern Florida CEO and president Norm Wedderburn, the happiness of Libbi and other children is what the evening is all about. “For a child facing medical fragility, a wish isn’t merely a luxury. It’s an essential catalyst for their enhanced physical, spiritual, and emotional wellness.”
