Scott Land President Gregg Scott One of SoulMen60 Raising Funds for Homelessness

As reported in the Calgary media – Scott Land President Gregg Scott is one of 13 prominent Calgary businessmen to celebrate his 60th birthday on Saturday, May 13 by throwing the biggest, bluesiest, birthday bash around to fight homelessness.

When Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi brought their blues to Calgary this weekend, it wasn’t just a venture to entertain guests at a private birthday bash.

Their performance was part of a massive fundraising endeavour that provided a $2.1 million (and counting) boost to Resolve, the Calgary campaign that is working to stamp out homelessness.

Aykroyd and Belushi — of Blues Brother, television and movie fame — performed at the fundraiser organized by 13 prominent Calgarians who are turning, or have turned, 60 this year.

Referring to themselves as SoulMen60, the 13 men paid for the party at the Agrium Western Event Centre for somewhere between 1,600 and 2,000 friends, family members and colleagues. In exchange for the invitation, guests made a meaningful-to-them donation to Resolve.

“We’re working tonight to raise awareness, to raise fun, (and) to raise funds,” said W. Brett Wilson, who was celebrating his 60th birthday year along with Bret Hart, Matthew Brister, Paul Charron, Michael Culbert, Glenn A. Hamilton, Donald R. Hansen, Jeffrey Kohn, Keith MacPhail, Kelly Ogle, Gregg Scott, Jay Westman and Peter A. Williams.

The party used the donation-based fundraising model that’s proven popular in Calgary for more than a decade; it’s been employed at Wilson’s annual garden parties and a 50th birthday soiree in 2007 thrown by many of the same individuals involved in this year’s 60th birthday celebration.

Calgarians are a generous bunch and never has this model led to disappointment, Wilson said.

Jay Westman also took the stage at the party to update the Resolve campaign, chaired by Brookfield Residential’s Al Norris. The campaign — working to find housing for 3,000 vulnerable and homeless people — has one year left to go and has reached the half-way mark of its $120 million goal.

Contributing to that amount, he noted, was Eric Carlson (founder of real estate developer Anthem United) who pledged $500,000 to the cause at Saturday night’s event.

In addition to Aykroyd, Belushi and his band The Sacred Hearts, the night’s entertainment included a musical tribute to the last six decades by country singer Brett Kissel.

More info on Resolve is at resolvecampaign.com. Final donations from the weekend event are still being tallied.