By Amy Scherzer, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Junior League of Tampa Holiday Gift Market co-chairs Susan Zelenka and Kim Carswell, left and far right, thank sponsors John Simmons and Stuart Lasher of Lifestyle Family Fitness.
Junior League of Tampa Holiday Gift Market
Junior League of Tampa president Betsy Graham and Roger and Suzanne Perry, past president of the Ocala chapter, thanked Holiday Gift Market patrons and annual donors of $1,000 and up on Oct. 21 at the Perrys' home in Hyde Park. Guests arrived to sangria and flamenco dancers accompanying Datz restaurant chef Heather Stalker's paella, ceviche, empandas and other Latin favorites.
The league has lined up 140 specialty vendors for its seventh holiday mart, open today through Sunday at the Florida State Fairgrounds. Co-chairs Susan Zelenka and Kim Carswell say you'll find fun jewelry, clothing, food, home and holiday decor, children's items, and of course, Junior League cookbooks. Entry is $5.
Between merchants, browse the Project Spotlights to learn about the programs your shopping supports to improve foster care, literacy, education, and to fulfill basic needs of disadvantaged children.
Last year's market drew 9,500. "Our goal is 10,000 through the door in 2010,'' said Zelenka, optimistically adding, "and we're looking at bigger space for next year."
Pink and Blue for Two
Singer Olivia Newton-John and her nephew Emerson Newton-John created Pink and Blue for Two (PB42), a lively benefit promoting couples' diagnostic screenings for breast (pink) and prostate (blue) cancer. The motto: Screen together, liv together, spelled to play off Olivia's nickname, Liv.
"Couples are in this together,'' said the breast cancer survivor, surrounded by fans of her 1978 film, Grease, and more recent episode of Glee. "If one spouse gets either disease, the other is affected," added Emerson.
DJ Mason Dixon auctioned five items and saxophonist Eric Darius jazzed the crowd in Busch Gardens' Desert Grill before Liv sang two songs, Xandau and Help Me to Heal.
Liv's Tampa connection goes back seven years to a Florida Orchestra performance, sponsored by Suzette and Monroe Berkman. (John Travolta popped in that night.) While touring Moffitt Cancer Center, Liv met H. Lee Moffitt, the former legislator who initiated funding for the center. A friendship began that led to her joining the Moffitt board of directors and to asking his wife, interior designer Dianne Devant Moffitt, to decorate her home in Jupiter. The Oct. 27 event proceeds go to Moffitt Cancer Center and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
"I hope PB42 catches on all over the nation," said Moffitt. "Make it global," said Emerson.
Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies
Celebrating the 11th annual Eternal Light Award on Oct. 27, the eve of the 45th anniversary of nostra aetate has special significance, said Ruth Maass, chairwoman of the annual dinner benefit for the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, a collaboration of the American Jewish Committee and Saint Leo University. Latin for "in our time," the declaration "opened the door for interfaith education and dialogue," Maass said.
AJC Rabbi Gary Greenebaum arrived from California to deliver the Eternal Light award to Saint Leo president Arthur F. Kirk Jr., a founder of CCJS. Another founder, AJC senior interreligious affairs adviser, Rabbi A. James Rudin, presented a new award for community leadership to Paul and Gail Whiting. In a very personal blessing, the Most Rev. Robert N. Lynch noted Gail's former chairmanship of the CCJS board and Paul's service as the first and only chairman of Academy Prep Center of Tampa. Some of those students sang a musical tribute to the couple. Proceeds from the $200-ticket dinner will fund programs from Dade City to Naples.