Kenny Loggins Headlines 26th Annual Crystal Ball Celebration
On Oct. 10, 2015, Methodist Hospital Foundation will hold the 26th Anniversary Crystal Ball “An Evening with Kenny Loggins” at the Pasadena Convention Center. This year’s celebration will honor Dr. Richard and Ivy Sun for their commitment and dedication to Methodist Hospital and our community. With the leadership of event co-chairs Dick and Sue Hale, this promises to be a successful fundraiser and friend-raiser for Methodist Hospital.
Since he first emerged as a professional singer and songwriter in the early 1970s, few entertainers have become as wildly successful and universally recognized as Kenny Loggins.
The celebration will be a coming home of sorts for Loggins, who graduated from San Gabriel Mission High School in the heart of Methodist Hospital’s service area. He welcomes the return to familiar streets and communities, sights and sounds that take him back to his earlier days as a young musician performing with the psych-rock band, The Electric Prunes.
“I tend to play at least half a dozen benefit-type performances per year,” he said. “I always like helping out worthy causes.” Regarding the upcoming Crystal Ball, which will raise funds for the expansion and renovation of Methodist Hospital’s Rehabilitation Unit, Loggins shared, “I’m glad I can help a community of old friends.”
This year, Methodist Hospital and Methodist Hospital Foundation are pleased to honor Dr. Richard Sun, D.D.S., and his wife, Ivy Sun, for the many generous ways they have supported the hospital’s mission to keep the community healthy.
When they were told they were to be honored, Richard recalled, “We were pretty shocked. I don’t feel I’m qualified. There are other, more deserving people.” Ivy agreed with her husband. “I was surprised – and honored. I don’t feel I’ve done enough,” she said. “But I am honored.” The Suns have been enthusiastic hospital supporters as well as being actively involved in numerous community activities. Richard joined the Methodist Hospital Foundation Board in 2008 and immediately became an active member of the Crystal Ball committee, co-chairing in 2010 with his good friend and fellow foundation board member Christine Antonovich.
“I do have the passion for Crystal Ball,” Richard said. “It’s a really good cause – to continue to improve the hospital’s facilities and services. I truly believe Methodist Hospital is the best hospital in the community, and I am pleased to be its ambassador.”
Richard first became involved with Methodist Hospital in 2007 in the most difficult way – a heart problem. Traditionally a hiker, Richard realized one day he just wasn’t able to do what he had before. He consulted a physician, who decided there was not significant blockage to cause heart problems. But while on a trip to Taipei, a CT scan showed that he did have severe occlusion – 95 percent – in the left side of his heart. “I knew I had to give back. I tell my friends and neighbors, ‘I hope you never need a hospital, but if you do, you need to go to Methodist Hospital.’”
This year’s co-chairs Richard (Dick) and Sue Hale, married 47 years, are also longtime Crystal Ball supporters. Dick became involved with the foundation in 1992 through his friend Fred Meyer, who was the hospital CEO at the time. Dick has served on the foundation board since 2005, and currently serves on the Hospital Board. Sue served as co-chair in 1994 with Jill Boli.
“I appreciate being appreciated by my peers, and I recognize that I am fortunate to be able to help and to bring others to give,” Dick said. “I tell people that giving doesn’t mean you have to donate a lot of money – you can give your time. And if you bring in 10 friends who can give a little, that equals one person giving a lot.”
Dick is president of The Hale Corporation, which designed and built the Hale Medical Center in 2014 to create space for doctors’ offices. “We hope to draw physicians and groups to bring their practices here, with the great location next to hospital. It makes me feel good to get a physician or group to come here. It enhances the hospital and what it can offer when doctors come.”
Sue recognizes the community’s need for accessible, great services. “It is important to have a hospital close to home – especially as we get older and might the need more for health services increase.”
Early in their roles as co-chairs, the Hales were already thinking of goals for this year’s event.
“We always want to break financial records,” Dick said, “but we also like want to find more friends to introduce new friends them to the hospital and what it does for the community.”
“It is a great honor to serve as co-chairs,” Sue said. “Every Crystal Ball is unique, and each year I meet new friends. I am looking forward to another very special event for the San Gabriel Valley and our Hospital this year.”
Dick agreed. “Crystal Ball draws more than 900 people each year, and many dedicated people work very hard to make it successful,” Dick said. “I’m looking forward to an event just as wonderful as past ones.
For Crystal Ball ticket information or to contribute to the Rehabilitation Unit Campaign at Methodist Hospital, call (626) 898-8888 or email crystalball@methodisthospital.org.
