Guests lit up the night at AdventHealth Foundation West Florida’s Tampa gala

Delivering health care to the "whole person" - treating the body, mind and spirit - sparked an outbreak of acute generosity at the annual Starlight Gala, with attendees feverishly raising more than $1 million for women's and children's services across hospitals in the AdventHealth West Florida Division. Two standing ovations roused 900 guests to their feet Aug. 18 at the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street. The first, for retiring AdventHealth Tampa CEO Bruce Bergherm, and another for brave Mary Kate Waymack, 5, whose mommy calls her and the hospital staff treating her complex bone disease "hope dealers" for their optimism in the toughest moments. Auction bidders' enthusiasm for exclusive experiences brought double bids of $50,000 each to spend a week at the Pepin family's North Carolina retreat and two $24,000 bids for a one-day yachting party. The roll call of pledges and matching gifts that followed reached an impressive $500,000 before Grammy winner Colbie Caillat took the stage. But before her cozy concert, the mic went to Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, chair of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation and the Glazer Vision Foundation, to announce a recent $3 million pledge to AdventHealth Tampa and to accept the chairmanship of the next Starlight Gala.