By: Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Rocking their red dress ensemble dames and dolls turned out for a night of auctions and entertainment for a good cause as Avita Health System held its second annual Dames ‘n Dolls Gala at Holy Trinity School in Bucyrus Friday night.
The Rock the Red Dames ‘n Dolls Gala’s proceeds benefit women’s health services at the Avita Health System.
Director for the Avita Health Foundation Tammy Schott explained what the money raised from the event would go towards this year.
“The money that is raised through the events goes to women’s health services through the foundation, and this year our project is the maternity renovation for Avita, and so we are renovating our whole maternity department and it is the only birthing center for Crawford County so all of the proceeds are going towards the maternity renovation.”
Proceeds from the Dames ‘n Dolls event from last year went towards mammography pads, and lymphedema bandaging kits.
Silent and live auctions were held in which numerous items were up for grabs including OSU football tickets, a Kalahari Resort package for six, and a catered dinner for 8. Proceeds were also collected through Champagne and Shopping, as well as raffles.
Entertainment of the evening was provided by motivational speaker, former Bucyrus resident, and creator of “The Evolution of Dance” Judson Laipply.
Laipply explained where the idea for “The Evolution of Dance” came from.
“I started working as a speaker in 2000. A very good mentor told me that in this particular field you have to have something that sticks out from the rest of the crowd,” Laipply explained. “So I started thinking what I could do, what my skills were. I tried a bunch of things, and one night I happened upon the idea of a dance medley in chronological order because it represented change. At first it wasn’t really polished, but it went over. People loved it.”
Last year’s Dames ‘n Dolls event had a theme of “Diamonds and Denim,” while this year the event theme changed to “Rocking the Red”
Schott explained why the event changed themes.
“The committee kind of comes up with it. We let the women come up with the ideas, and they wanted to do something red, so we came up with the idea of rock the red and went with that,” Schott explained.