The three-pound mass of convoluted tissue, the organ we call the brain, will be celebrated for its many facets of creativity at the Brain Research Foundation`s 1990 awards gala on June 29.
Honorees this year are philanthropist Mary Lasker, theologian Martin Marty and journalists Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer.
The Brain Research Foundation, established in 1953 to promote research and knowledge concerning the human brain, is the largest private donor to the University of Chicago`s world-renowned Brain Research Institute. Since 1967, institute scientists have been struggling to decipher the workings of the brain and, in the process, have taken the first steps toward finding cures for Alzheimer`s disease, Parkinson`s disease, Lou Gehrig`s disease, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, epilepsy, stroke, schizophrenia, narcolepsy and brain tumors.
The cerebral evening begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Hotel Inter-Continental, 505 N. Michigan Ave. Tickets are $175 apiece and benefit the institute. Lasker and MacNeil will be unable to accept their awards in person, but Marty and Lehrer are scheduled to attend. Call 312-782-4311.
Bless the babes: Before they are born, they suffer. Once they are born, they suffer still. They are babies born to mothers who, at some time during their pregnancies, used cocaine. Treatment for these babies and their mothers is essential-and expensive.
The Winfield Moody Health Center, a division of the not-for-profit Near North Health Services Corp., treated 200 such babies and their mothers last year. The cost to the clinic: $650,000.
The clinic, at 1276 N. Clybourn Ave., is hosting its second annual fundraiser Monday to benefit its Cocaine Babies Program. Chairmen of the event include Vince Lane, chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority; restaurant wizard Rich Melman, chief executive officer of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises; and William Moorehead, president of Moorehead & Associates, a real estate property management firm.
The mood should be upbeat at the Taste of the West gala, at Bub City Crabshack and Bar B Q, 901 W. Weed St. The Western buffet begins at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $100. Call 312-337-1073.
Corporate alert: If you`re looking for a CEO Tuesday night, you`ll find several hundred of Chicago`s top corporate and Jewish community leaders will be dining and toasting international investment banker J. Ira Harris in the International Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel.
The American Jewish Committee`s annual Human Rights Medallion dinner always draws a power-packed crowd. With Lester Crown, chairman of Henry Crown & Co., and Patrick G. Ryan, president of Aon Corp., as co-chairmen of the dinner, you can bet this year`s crowd of more than 600 will be equally impressive. James Compton, president of the Chicago Urban League, will speak. The American Jewish Committee, founded in 1906, strives to dissolve prejudice and bigotry. It is regarded internationally as one of the largest and most effective human relations agencies.
The salute to Harris begins with cocktails at 5:15 p.m. Tickets are $300 and benefit the works of the American Jewish Committee. Call 312-663-5500.
Last call: CampFest, a fundraiser to send to camp one of the 600 abused or neglected children of the Juvenile Court of Cook County, gets under way at 4:45 p.m. Thursday at Wozniak`s Restaurant, 2530 S. Blue Island Ave. Tickets are $15 for this buffet benefit, sponsored by the Juvenile Court, the Chicago Police Department and the American Camping Association. Call 312-738-6412.
– Ravinia Festival opens its 55th season Friday with a gourmet tented lawn party. Cocktails start at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $150 and benefit the summerlong Highland Park music festival. Call 708-433-8800.
– Access Living, a group born out of the belief that people with disabilities should be provided with every possibility for life without barriers, celebrates its 10th anniversary Friday at Cafe Brauer in Lincoln Park. The celebration begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $125 and benefit the not-for-profit group, which provides service, advocacy and social change for people with disabilities. Call 312-226-5900.
– The Grant Park Concerts Society opens its 56th season with a gourmet picnic on the lawn Saturday, before the opening night performance of Alexander Borodin`s opera, ”Prince Igor.” The picnic starts at 5:30 p.m., so guests have plenty of time to sate themselves before ambling over to reserved seats at 7:45 p.m. for the opera. Tickets are $50, and proceeds will benefit the artistic costs of the season`s guest soloists and conductors. Call
312-819-0614.
Briefly: The first-ever benefit for the Beverly Farm, a 93-year-old, not- for-profit home for the mentally disabled in the town of Godfrey, in southwestern Illinois just west of Alton, will be held June 28 at Ditka`s City Lights, 223 W. Ontario St. Until now, the farm has been funded solely by parents. But now, the Beverly Farm Foundation is branching out to friends and supporters in the Chicago area, where the families of one-third of the 355 residents live.
The cocktail buffet and silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $50. Call 708-835-3350.
Mail your announcements to Places to Be, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
