Feast of Fortune: Chairs Chris Stepien and Anita Law moved their little-gala-that-could to the Westin Bayshore Ballroom after it outgrew its humble beginnings at the Victoria Gardens Restaurant. In four short years, Scotiabank’s Feast of Fortune has raised nearly $1 million for Mount Saint Joseph Hospital (MSJ). The duo along with honourary chair Sing Lim Yeo welcomed nearly 700 guests to the Year of the Dragon Lunar New Year luau. Gala-goers feasted on barbecue pork, wild salmon and lobster.

Generosity uncorked: More than 300 labels were uncorked at the first major tipple fest of the year, Taste the World, The Four Seasons wine-tasting event benefitting Cambodia’s Angkor Children’s Hospital was fronted by Nina and John Cassils, Vivian Thom and medical practitioners including David Shoemaker. Canadians have helped treat more than 900,000 kids free of charge since 1999.

East meets west: Tapping into China’s huge movie market, Vancouver distributor Industry Works celebrated its first Canadian Chinese partnership with the world premiere of the animated feature film Back to the Sea. Actors Christian Slater, Tim Curry and Mark Hamill provide the star power to the acclaimed $10-million children’s film of a young flying fish who lives in the New York harbour.

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Hear Fred Mondays 8: 20 a.m. on CBC Radio's The Early Edition; email: yvrflee@hotmail.com; Twitter: @FredAboutTown or fredabouttown.blogspot.com.