Transition House’s 25th Annual Mad Hatter Fundraiser
Transition House (TH) held its Silver Anniversary Mad Hatter Luncheon fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara on Tuesday, April 23. The theme was “Come Celebrate our Silver Anniversary.” Guests arrived showcasing a variety of silver threaded designer pieces, from hats, scarves, dresses, rhinestone tops, right down to the basic silver lurex card’y.
Hats took on their own theme, from Paris, WWII, Aladdin, red carpet, cartoon, and freelance sculpted. Applause went to the designer hats owned by the late Leslie Ridley-Tree (purchased at her estate auction) and were worn by Erin Graffy de Garcia and Jill Nida. Ridley-Tree,whose presence at the event is cherished, was known to have at least 80 hats in her collection.
During the cocktail reception, guests shopped the Silent Auction items, which included a cocktail party at the Montecito Riven Rock Estate of Frank McGinity, gift cards from Tre Lune Montecito, Condor Express, El Encanto, SB Polo Club, SB Maritime Museum, SB Museum of Natural History, Granada Theatre, and dozens of artworks, jewelry, and wine baskets. There were raffle tickets for a chance to win one of three top prizes, like an overnight at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara. The San Marcos High School Jazz Combo of senior students, under the direction of SMHS Instrumental Music Director Michael Kiyoi, played jazz standards seamlessly. Kiyoi was a Grammy Music Educator finalist in 2023.
The Event Chair Diane White had all the details perfect with her event committee of Anna Ylvisaker, Ellen Lilley, Lana Marmé, Jacquie McMahon, Nancy Kozak, Carolyn Creasey,and Jane Macedo de Veer, along with the Silent Auction Committee Judy Cresap and Cheri Jasinski. TH Auxiliary Executive Board attendees were President Florence Michel, Vice President Mimi Veyna, TreasurerAnna Ylvisaker, SecretaryDiane White, Membership Pita Khorsandi, and Publicity Jean Keely.
The program was led by TH Executive Director Kathleen Baushke and Andrew Firestone. Baushke thanked the guests, her team, and the TH Auxiliary. She said that the TH Auxiliary has raised over $1.7 million for homeless children since holding the Mad Hatter event for 24 years. Baushke affirmed the TH mission is to interrupt generational poverty, and care for homeless children with their families. Guest speaker Jim Buckley presented a TH success story of a homeless mother of two who now owns her own home. They were present and her son gave a short thank you speech to the guests.
Firestone, our emcee d’elegance, with his daughter Anja, talked about his three reasons for continuing to be the emcee for this event: Transition House’s commitment to results rather than Band-Aid treatments for homeless issues, the three-decade continued support by his parents of Transition House, and his daughter as a reference that all children deserve a home. At the request of the Transition House Auxiliary, he led the guests to raise a toast to recently passed Lynda Millner, Society News Reporter for the Montecito Journal for over 25 years, who covered the Mad Hatter Event annually in her news column.
For the Ask, Firestone raised over $65,000, which subsequently secured the matching of $50,000 pledged by an anonymous donor. At the time of this report, final net is still being tallied from the raffle tickets, silent auction items, and private donations.
To conclude the event, prizes were presented to the most creative and decorative hats seen at the event. This year’s winners were Most Beautiful – Beth Amine; Most Humorous – Lex Steinhauser; and Most Creative – CenCal Health team.
Corporate sponsors were California Learning Center, Casa Dorinda, CenCal Health, the Golis Team at Radius Commercial Real Estate, Meridian Group Real Estate Management, Montecito Bank and Trust, Tileco Distributors Inc., The Towbes Group, and Wadell Roofing Services.
You might also be interested in...
