Benefactors

As with last year, event organizers hope to raise money for breast and prostate cancer by auctioning individual bids for a research endowment fund. Last year 70 guests made a pledge to the endowment, which raised $12,600 for prostate cancer and $ 6,350 for breast cancer.

Endowments are a type of charitable gift in which the principal is invested and the interest income is used for whatever purpose the donor wishes - in this case, prostate and breast cancer research. Because the principal is never touched, endowments last in perpetuity.

Endowments are currently earning approximately 14 percent over a 10- year term as invested by the Regents of the University of California.

Another feature of the evening will be the announcement of the winner of the first annual Peter McCuen Cancer Research Excellence Award. The award honors McCuen, a business and community leader who died last year of cancer. McCuen was chairman of the board of the UC Davis Cancer Center executive board of advisors from its inception in 1998 until his death. The award gives recognition and funding to a company or organization engaged in outstanding cancer research.

Irish soprano Patricia Cahill