Foreigner & Sinbad Headline 25th Annual Leukemia Ball; Nets $3+ Million!

NORTHWEST -- Billed as Washington’s largest ‘one-night non-political black-tie gala’, the 2012 Leukemia Ball painted the echoing halls of the Convention Center in beautiful shades of purple and blue on Saturday evening, in honor of the gala’s silver anniversary.

Now in its 25th year, the black-tie event raised an estimated $3.1 million on behalf of The National Capital Area Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Approximately 5,000 ticketholders flocked downtown for an evening that began with a cocktail reception that featured one of the area’s largest silent auctions. Travel packages, gourmet food and wine, and autographed sports memorabilia abounded, with proceeds earmarked in support of the LLS’s mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

But the auction was just the beginning. After an awards ceremony (did we mention the two Mercedes that were raffled off?) and dinner emceed by local news anchors Lesli Foster (9 News Now), Sue Palka (Fox 5 News), Cynne Simpson (ABC7), and Eun Yang (NBC4), guests were treated to a full blown entertainment program, including a comedy routine by Sinbad and an end-of-evening musical performance by Foreigner.

In past years, the Leukemia Ball has welcome a variety of household name entertainers including Diana Ross in 2011, Jay Leno, Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, and Lionel Richie.

Foreigner (Photo: Tim Lundin).

Sinbad (Photo: Tim Lundin).
And with the amount of money raised at this year’s gala sharply eclipsing 2011’s haul, guests knew exactly what love was by night’s end!