When Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes win in Vancouver, Karen Blair may feel a little extra pride knowing that she helped them get there.


Blair and her husband run Gold Medal Plates, a fundraiser that raised $2.8 million for Canadian athletes. Eight years ago, on the day it was announced that Vancouver would host the Olympics, the couple hatched an idea to create a fundraiser in which chefs would compete to see who is the best in Canada with the money going to Canadian athletes. 


"We wanted to celebrate Canadian excellence and raising money was a bonus," says Blair.


What grew from that idea is a series of regional gala dinners in which 10 local chefs, paired with an Olympic or Paralympic athletes, compete to make their best meal to go with a Canadian wine. The guests are entertained by top Canadian talent and bid on auction items including trips with athletes and performers to wonderful locations. The top chef from each region then goes on to compete in the Canadian Culinary Championship.


To pull this together, GMP employs six people in its office and organizers in each of the regions. As senior vice-president, Blair is responsible for budgeting, marketing and overseeing the event planning. But her job includes much more.


January, which she says is one of her calmer months, included taking a group of auction winners to Maui to ride with Olympic triathlete Simon Whitfield; negotiating with the Canadian Olympic Committee and meeting with Montreal Canadiens president Pierre Boivin, chair of the volunteer committee in charge of that city's gala. 


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