Fundraiser is all carat, no stick

LITTLE ROCK — Club Red was host to a big-city fashion show May 8 at its third annual Five Carat Ball. The event at the Statehouse Convention Center was a fundraiser for the American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas. The chapter depends on the money to respond to disasters and provide health and safety services like lifesaving skills, as well as support to families of servicemen and social services.

Jason Harper, who returned as master of ceremonies, said the mission of the Red Cross is to "provide disaster relief to anyone that's in harm's way."

Last year, the chapter provided disaster response to 1,500 people affected by home fires. The beginning of 2008 has proved atypically challenging, with severe weather including tornadoes, flooding, hail and thunderstorms, a record number of fires and deployment of a 3,000-strong Arkansas National Guard unit. All money raised stays in Arkansas and goes directly toward such needs, said Jennifer Schueck, president of Club Red, the Red Cross' young-supporters group. She and her husband, Patrick, who is chairman of the Greater Arkansas chapter, were co-chairmen of the gala.

Anna Kay Williams, a trustee with Little Rock's Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, described her foundation's assistance when the Red Cross' Brigette Williams, community affairs director, contacted her for help after the Feb. 5 tornadoes. The foundation awarded the chapter a $50,000 challenge grant toward the Red Cross Family Crisis Fund which provides local emergency response. The Red Cross spent more than $50,000 abovebudget in January alone to respond to five apartment fires.

"The foundation did this in response to the record number of home fires we're experiencing this year, simultaneous to the weather-related disasters," Williams explained later. "We explained to them the difficulty in securing funding for fire response in the middle of large-scale disasters such as the tornadoes, hailstorms and floods that were also occurring and receiving the media attention."

Williams then offered a challenge to guests to contribute financially that night to help match those funds.

"Make a pledge to give up something you don't need or can do without so that tomorrow, it can go to someone who needs it twice as much as you," she said.

After dinner, there was a live auction and a formal presentation recognizing the Arkansas Disaster Response Team. Dillard's presented a fashion show featuring women's spring and summer styles.

Among the guests in attendance were Melissa Bradford, Julie Brooks, Staci Corbett, Ric Crane, Debra DeLeon, Lee Edwards, Mike Gilbert, Michelle Gunn, Donna Hardcastle, Tanarah Haynie, Kathy Hughes, Bernadete Jensen, Dr. Gail Reede Jones, James Jones, Kayla Jones, Sarah Jones, Amanda Kella, Katie Keenan, Jamie Kitchens, Lacy Lambert, Tyler Moffet, Betsy Parkinson, Margaret Preston, Elizabeth Reeves, Judy Shelley, Jennifer Thompson, Steve Ulmschneider, Lee Washington and Laura Wiltshire.