By BEN STODDARD
United Way K-W and Area is hosting its annual celebrity event on Nov. 25. Every year, they honour a local celebrity to help raise money for their fall campaign.
“Tales of a TV Journalist” is honouring Lisa LaFlamme, the new chief anchor and senior editor for CTV National News, at the Federation Hall in Waterloo at 7 p.m. The special guest MC is Jeff Hutcheson, the sports and weather anchor for Canada AM. Other special guests include Lloyd Robertson, the previous chief anchor, Julie Osborne, a publisher at Maclean’s, and James Duthie, a host of The NHL on TSN. Meg Lagrotta, the event co-ordinator at United Way K-W said that the event will be a cocktail-style reception.
“There will be food stations and hors’deuvres passed,” Lagrotta said. “Each food station represents a country where Lisa LaFlamme covered a large news story.” For example, there will be a Japanese sushi station because she covered the tsunami in March.
“With some insider knowledge and a little improv thrown in, this is sure to be an evening full of surprise,” a media release said. It will also have plenty of behind-the-scenes stories of LaFlamme’s rise from a Kitchener TV reporter to the national news anchor.
LaFlamme began her CTV career in Kitchener-Waterloo in 1991. In 1997 she became a consumer news reporter and the weekend news anchor for CTV news. Over the years, she covered war zones, Canadian politics in Ottawa and hosted Canada AM. She’s received awards such as the RTNDA award for best live coverage of a breaking news event, five Gemini award nominations and an honourary doctor of law degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.
The organization’s goal for this year’s fall campaign is $6 million, 13 per cent higher than last year, but they estimate that they’ll only reach $4.9 million due to the economy.
Tickets are $125 and are available at www.laflammeevent.eventbrite.com. Proceeds will go toward the United Way’s fall campaign to help local families in need, which have grown significantly in number this year because of the recession.
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