Faith, Hope and Charity for Palin event

More than 42,000 Hamiltonians donate cash to local hospitals.

But it took just 70 complaints -- only 10 of whom identified themselves as donors -- to help convince organizers of the Sarah Palin fundraiser to replace St. Peter's Hospital and the Juravinski Cancer Centre as the event beneficiaries.

Proceeds from the April 15 gala will instead go to The Charity of Hope, which benefits children.

Pearl Veenema, president and CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, the fundraising wing for six local hospitals, confirmed that just 70 complaints about the Palin event were received by Hamilton Health Sciences or the foundation.

None of the 10 who suggested they were donors was a multimillion-dollar contributor, Veenema confirmed.

Still, fundraiser organizers switched beneficiaries, believing that the two hospitals had been made unfair targets "of a lot of negative publicity."