Bidders Contribute $25,000 at Wellness Benefit Auction

“Of course, we were very, very nervous,” said Gerald Bronstein, president of the board of the Wellness Community-Westside.

Months ago, supporters planned a silent art auction for Sunday to raise funds for the 10-year-old cancer self-help group, but turmoil in the city during the preceding days made organizers concerned that they would have to cancel.

Fortunately, the event had been scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m., which meant that people could get home before the curfew.

But the site of the fund-raiser was a warehouse, the quarters of the Santa Monica College School of Design, Art and Architecture, shut down over the last few days along with the college.

“On Friday night at 6 o’clock, the president of the college said we could be open,” said Mariko Laniado, executive director of the organization.

Volunteers called the nearly 300 people who had responded to make sure they were coming, and most did attend. After being confined to their houses, people seemed relieved to be out in the world again.

The auction was held in honor of the late Sheila Ruth, a Los Angeles artist who participated in Wellness’ psychological support programs before she died last year of lung cancer at age 40. The community’s profile was also raised when the late comedian Gilda Radner became one of its most visible beneficiaries.

After Ruth’s death, some of her artist friends decided to donate their work to raise money in her memory. “She was a life-directed, positive, very social, outgoing, gregarious person,” said artist George Geyer, a close friend. “This is just the kind of thing she would have loved.”

The event raised $25,000 for Wellness programs, which are given free of charge. After the fund-raiser, organizers delivered the food that was left--sandwiches, cheese and crackers and sweets--to First A.M.E. Church in South Los Angeles.