GALA-vanting by Faye Zuckerman
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 9, 2005
Fund for Community Progress
Roasted and toasted in good taste Channel 10's president and general manager Lisa Churchville arrived at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet on Sept. 28 prepared with comebacks, rebuttals and one-liners.
She was this year's honoree at the Fund for Community Progress's annual roast. And she rarely had to deliver anything from her arsenal of rejoinders as the event ended up being a reverent toast.
The 475 guests watched an entertaining takeoff of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno that lauded the TV executive for being an active contributor and volunteer to many charities. More than $42,000 was brought in for the 23-year-old organization, which, through workplace giving, supports 27 grass-roots agencies.
Many members of the nonprofit community turned out for the laugh-filled evening. Among them were representatives from Trinity Rep, All Children's Theater, Community Mediation Center, John Hope Settlement House, Samaritans and the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
"She is devoted to community. She never says no and volunteers all the time," said one of Churchville's roasters, her friend Maryanne Harmsen, who is a sales and marketing executive for a software company. "The roast is a chance for those groups (nonprofits) to celebrate someone who has helped them."
Laughter frequently wafted through Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet as Channel 10's Gene Valicenti stepped into a Jay Leno-host role. Among those he brought to the stage, designed to look like a set from a late-night TV talk show, were Churchville's husband Alex "Skip" Carlin, caterer Guy Abelson and Charlie Hall of the Ocean State Follies.
Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education
Full day of fun for a good cause An oil landscape by Tom Sgouros went for $5,500, and dinner with Brad and Dory Faxon sold for $8,500 at the Tee and Sea dinner-auction on Sept. 26 at the Carnegie Abbey Club, Portsmouth.
Some 150 guests participated in the party, which was held after day-long fundraising events that included tennis, golf and a regatta. The organization, which offers scholarship and mentoring opportunities to children of incarcerated parents, netted about $130,000 from Tee and Sea. The Faxons, Hope and Mike Hudner, and Cathy and Tom Ryan co-chaired the event.
Jump! Inc.
Happening on the East Side The second "dance happening" on Summit Avenue in Providence on Sept. 30 raised nearly $5,000 for the dance company Jump! Inc. More than 50 guests attended the party, held at the East Side home of the company's founder and artistic director, Mary Paula Hunter. The company is dedicated to the choreographic arts.
South County Hospital
Dunes Club fete nets $165,000 The Dunes Club in Narragansett was the setting on Sept. 16 for South County Hospital's annual fundraiser, which cleared $165,000 after expenses.
South Kingstown Connecting All Resources for Educational Support
