12 • Thursday, July 26, 2012
social
OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal
Porch Party with a Purpose
Above, from left: Alice Lucas, Janet Lucas Beck and Benny LaRussa Jr. Right: Duncan Holditch, Sandra Gillis and Amy Holditch. Photos special to the Journal
First-Time Oasis Art Sale Draws a Crowd, Raises $14,000
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rtCard, a first-time fundraiser for Oasis Counseling for Women and Children, was hosted by the nonprofit’s inaugural junior board June 21. More than 200 attended the porch party and blind art sale, which raised nearly $14,000. Oasis helps women and children by providing affordable mental health counseling and innovative education programs. Oasis must raise about $65 per session to subsidize the cost of counseling for clients who could not otherwise afford these services. The junior board organized the event, which featured 139 cards created by fashion more photos at designers, chefs, artists, children, community leaders, photographers and authors. To create an element of surprise, artists’ names remained hidden until guests purchased the art, which was all sold for the same price: $50. Before opening the gallery for shopping, the first five spots in line were auctioned off for the highest bidder, raising about $600. Oasis’s two Victorian Southside buildings were transformed into an art gallery and outdoor cocktail party. Café Iz catered the Southern-style “porch party” while Gabriel Tajeu and Allen Barlow played acoustic tunes. Guests included Cindy Speake, Mrs. Alabama Ashley Bentley, Jim Sisson, Oasis founder Anne LaRussa, Vicki Denaburg, Janet Lucas Beck, Benny LaRussa Jr., Charles and Nancy Haines, Beth Bradley, Alan Perlis, Elliotte Sisk, Jeff Morrison, Sandra Gillis, Sara Ann Polhemus, Thomas Andrew Findlay, Beth Rooney, Mary Johnson Butterworth, Charles Butterworth and Oasis board president Joseph Sandner IV with wife Julie. Members of the Oasis Junior Board are Ashley Bentley, Julia Bevill, Barnett Chenoweth, Marianne Combs, Michael Hansen, Jane Johnson, Megan Kyle, Chelsey LaRussa, Megan LaRussa, Celina Miller, Anna Catherine Roberson, Mary Elizabeth Roberson, Meredith Robinson and Alden Speake. ❖
OTMJ.COM
Sara Ann Polhemus, Celeste David and Dorothy Holloway
Anne LaRussa and Vicki Denaburg