By Charles S. Burdell, Jr.
The King County Bar Foundation received a record-breaking $300,000 in revenue at its annual fund-raiser, the Breakfast With Champions. The event held on April 3 at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle attracted 1,000 lawyers, judges and friends of the Foundation, including Governor Christine Gregoire.
Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life manager of the Hotel Rwanda, delivered the keynote address. Rusesabagina described the horrors of the genocide he experienced in Rwanda during the mid-1990s. With a soft spoken voice, the audience was transfixed by his graphic depiction of the travesty suffered by over a million Rwandan citizens. By telling the story that he, his family, and the people of Rwanda endured, Rusesabagina hopes to bring awareness to the shocking violence that occurred in order to prevent it from ever happening again.
Breakfast guests, encouraged by the words of Foundation trustees Susan Mask and Peter Ehrlichman, made donations in support of the Foundation's pro bono legal services and diversity programs. Last year, every dollar received by the Foundation resulted in $6.77 in legal services or helped leverage an education for a minority law school student.
Ginna Owens, the retired development director of the Foundation, was presented with the Foundation's Champion of Diversity and Champion of Justice Awards. This is the first time the Foundation has ever presented both awards to one person. Owens worked tirelessly on behalf of justice for all and for increased diversity in the legal profession. Six years ago, Owens and the Foundation trustees began the annual Breakfast With Champions. At the first breakfast, 200 people attended and the Foundation raised $100,000. The most recent breakfast is a testament to the reason the Foundation's trustees unanimously voted to recognize Owens with both of its annual awards. Also recognized at the breakfast was attorney Mike Wrenn and his firm Heller Ehrman for their outstanding pro bono support to the KCBF's Newcomers Resource Project.
King County Bar Foundation thanks its sponsors, guests, table captains, trustees, staff and volunteers for making the 2006 Breakfast With Champions such a successful event. For more information about the King County Bar Foundation and the programs it funds, visit kcbf.org or contact Marzette Mondin at 206-267-7007.
