This is the second year for the Brain Project, which raised $1.3-million in 2016. The event helps increase awareness about brain-health issues.Getty Images/iStockphoto
The donor: Ariella Rohringer
The gift: Helping raise more than $1.3-million
The cause: Toronto's Baycrest Health Sciences
Before becoming a lawyer, Ariella Rohringer studied fine art and she's always had a passion for painting and sculptures.
She's also watched her father-in-law battle Alzheimer's disease and this year she got involved in a project that puts both areas into focus. Ms. Rohringer joined the committee organizing the annual Brain Project, a Toronto event that this year saw 100 artists design brain sculptures, which were put on display across the city all summer. A selection of the sculptures will be auctioned off later this month and proceeds from the event will go to Toronto-based Baycrest Health Sciences, a world-leading centre that specializes in geriatric care and brain health.
This is the second year for the Brain Project, which raised $1.3-million in 2016. Ms. Rohringer said the event has caught on and has helped increase awareness about brain-health issues. She's also hoping to top the amount raised.
"Brain health is something near and dear to my heart," she said from her home in Toronto. "Alzheimer's doesn't discriminate between creed or race or gender or anything. It's something that everybody has to deal with and it's important to get that message out while people are young."
Paul Waldie