Monday, March 01, 2004

Shake your booties and everyone else's, for that matter. At midnight the dance floor in Jay Verno Studios was still vibrating to the sounds of Gary Racan and the Studio E Band. Guests wielding dangerous maracas (they sound like a plague of locusts when you get enough of them going!) formed a conga line, while in another, more sedate part of the party playhouse, folks raided the dessert buffet.

	John Heller, Post-Gazette Chairs Christine Hilliard and Courtney Wissinger Click photo for larger image.

Kids will be kids, even when they're older and a bit gray. Saturday's benefit for the Children's Home of Pittsburgh brought out the child in a sold-out crowd of 350 for an evening just as packed with fun. But "Shake Your Booties" did more than net close to $100,000. It celebrated the great success of the venerable Children's Home, which has been protecting the health and well-being of infants and children for more than 110 years. It's three major components are Child's Way (which provides critical medical day care for fragile children from birth to age eight), Transitional Infant Care (for premature and high-risk infants after release from hospital neonatal intensive care units) and the Adoption Program which has placed more than 7,000 children into permanent families.

What's truly remarkable is the foundation of support the Children's Home has built by affecting so many families. Many of the dedicated board members have personal stories to tell of being adopted or adopting, of newborn babies they struggled to save or children whose health they fight to maintain. Generations of families attended the party (like the Hechts and Rowes , who helped sponsor the benefit through P.J. Dick & Trumbull) along with longtime volunteers like board chair Dr. Barbara Zawadzki (with husband Jerry Itzkoff), medical director Dr. Fred Sherman (with Katy), Drew and Karen Morrison, Richard and Emily Goldberg, Jay and Ranny Ferguson, Chuck and Diane Vater, Bill and Debbie Wycoff and Katie and Jim Leyland.

Board secretary Elin Roddey served as honorary chair of the evening with her husband, Jim, everyone's favorite auctioneer. The gala co-chairs were Courtney Wissinger (with Eric) and Christine Hilliard (with Jamie). They brought in a young, hip crowd perfectly at home in the young, hip space. Artist Burton Morris donated his artwork including the invitations and an autographed copy of his Oscar poster, and the silent auction offerings were stellar (especially the dazzlers from Henne Jewelers).

A martini bar attracted lots of attention, as did the splendid hors d'oeuvres from Michael Lench Catering. The buffet dinner Lench created was equally divine, with crisp vegetables, hearty cuts of beef and salmon filet and mashed potatoes worth every calorie. Guests were seated in rooms with different color schemes enlivened by spring flowers by Michael Jacobs' Blooms. Enchanting, overall, but with the loose and easy format that makes for lots of relaxed mingling. Credit Nancy Byrnes Events for another great idea.

Children's Home CEO Pam Schanwald welcomed so many great guests including Tom and Audrey Hilliard, Rob and Christina Cochran, John and Lisa Gloninger, Lynn and Ron Davenport Jr., Kitty Hillman, John and Kelley Denney, Larry and Ina Gumberg, Brooks and Alexandra Robinson, Lynn and Steve Seay, Rose Linda Lebovitz, Congressman Mike Doyle with Pat, Prenter and David Mosey, Bob and Diane Bowden, Prentiss and Lulu Orr, Richard and Laurie Guttman, Tim Condron and Glenn Charest, Bill and Joan Widdoes, Jennifer and Jim Muse, Lisa and Todd Ireland, Sam and Joanie Kamin, Kathleen and Toby O'Brien and Jessica and Tim O'Brien, Judge Larry and Natalie Kaplan, Paul and Ann Soske, Gwynn and A.H. Wardwell, Carl Williams and those folks from sponsoring Perkins Eastman Architects.

E-mail this story   Print this story