The initial party for the upstart Party With a Heart got hearts racing inside the Argenta Community Theater. The brainchild of local nonprofit board member Tifany Hamlin was "heart healthy" -- in sentiment and fact. The dance party, fueled from the stage by DJ Kat Wms, kicked off promptly at 8 p.m. and closed at 11 p.m. April 16. When Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" dropped, the dance floor turned into a trembling sylvan of T.T. back-up singers.
In the course of it, about a hundred women helped the nonprofit raise close to $10,000 -- early estimate -- which at least out of the gate will be directed to PATH, Partners Against Trafficking Humans.
"At one point, I stood back and looked at the dance floor. Not one woman was sitting. Everyone was dancing. No one was self-conscious. We were all being silly with our girlfriends," Hamlin said.
"I thought, 'Wow. We did it. We brought women together in a safe place to let loose and have fun," and raise money for a nonprofit fighting to give other women -- women in unsafe places, captives -- a way out of bondage.
"My heart is full."
-- Story and photos by Bobby Ampezzan
High Profile on 04/24/2016