Fun, Philanthropy, and Artists for Peace and Justice: The 2012 Festival Lunch raised $550,000 for Haiti!

On September 9th, 2012, we held our fourth annual Toronto Film Festival fundraiser to benefit our programs in Haiti. This year’s event was held at the University of Toronto President’s Estate, a beautiful outdoor venue, and was co-hosted by Trudie Styler, Jude Law and APJ Canada Board Member George Stroumboulopoulos.

Guests were treated to truly incredible performances from Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace, K’Naan and Arcade Fire, and among the revelers were Alexander Skarsgard, Ian Somerhalder, Claire Forlani, the Property Brothers and Alison Mosshart of the Kills. K’Naan’s poignant performance struck home with the audience, as guests sang along to the lyrics, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark.”

For the finale, Arcade Fire strummed through the crowd and ended up on stage, giving a rousing performance of “Sprawl II” and then “Haiti,” a particularly moving song for our event. As Arcade Fire has been supporting work in Haiti for years, lead singer Win Butler gave an impassioned speech echoing the words of CEO David Belle urging all guests to be generous in their support. It worked – the afternoon raised $550,000 for our programs in Haiti. Thank you, Toronto! See you next year.