Doctors are calling for their charitable galas in Palm Beach to be moved from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate — which is also serving as the winter White House presently.
The news comes on a planned protest at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday when Trump attends the International Red Cross 2017 ball.
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It is the height of the ball season on the tony island where the rich and philanthropic don their finery and attend charitable events. And since location is everything, these galas are often either held at Mar-a-Lago or The Breakers resort.
The historic Mar-a-Lago Club boasts an 800-seat ballroom and ocean views.
But now throngs of medical professionals are calling on Cleveland Clinic hospitals to cut their ties to Trump in light of the president’s executive order temporarily banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
In a story in The Washington Post today, doctors, nurses and students have signed an open letter pleading with the clinic to condemn the Trump policy and to cancel a fundraiser set for this month at the resort.
More than 1,000 people have also signed a petition demanding a change of venue for the Massachusetts-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to cancel or relocate another lavish fundraiser planned for later this month.
It is reported the donors are paying between $1,250 and $100,000 to attend the Dana-Farber event scheduled for Feb. 18.
Dana-Farber president Laurie H. Glimcher has refused to cancel the fundraiser, saying it was too late to call off the event, according to the Boston Globe.
Doctors were lobbying the Cleveland Clinic to cut ties with Trump after a resident at the clinic was denied entry to the U.S. under the president’s executive order. The hospital is trying to get the safe return of the employee.
The Cleveland Clinic says, as well, that it is too late to cancel its ball, but the Ohio-based academic hospital said it would not commit to using the same location for next year’s event.”
The Red Cross ball is the hallmark of the Palm Beach social season and is almost always at Mar-a-Lago.
The Red Cross has not yet signed a contract with a venue for next year's event, according to a story in Business Insider.
A permit for the Red Cross’s 2016 gala, obtained by The Associated Press, says 500 people were expected to attend. Red Cross estimated the event would raise $925,000 and cost about $400,000 to put on.
The permit also noted a $20,000 in-kind donation — meaning that is what Mar-a-Lago would have charged the Red Cross.
In 2015, according to the same permit, the gala and another Palm Beach event together raised $1.75 million and cost $800,000.
If events are canceled at Mar-a-Lago that would impact Trump’s pocketbook.
This week the department chain Nordstrom announced it no longer working with Ivanka Trump for the fall season and is reducing the amount of Trump merchandise stocked.
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