‘Giddy Up, Give Back’ launches busy year for humanitarian group

By Don Kirkland

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Their successes may not always be Page One
fodder but what they accomplish for people in
need has made news for years.
They make up the roster of East Valley Women’s
League, whose 55 active and 28 life members devote
thousands of hours to such lofty enterprises as
Cinderella Affair, Children’s Cancer Network and the
Pregnancy Care Center—each of which is designed to
provide help and hope where it’s needed most.
This year’s EVWL president, Amy Grossklaus,
says those are only a few of the many humanitarian
programs in which the group has invested its
members’ time and energy.
To help fund these widely diverse community
initiatives, the group will stage its annual Giddy Up
and Give Back celebration Friday, Feb. 28, at the
popular Rustler’s Rooste.
There, guests will participate in an auction
for envied prizes—including dinners at some of the
Valley’s premier restaurants and backstage passes to
TV nighttime host Jimmy Kimmel’s “green room”—
as well as dining, dancing and entertainment, all
with a big helping of Western hospitality.
Auction items are still coming in, adding to
generous contributions from a list of sponsors that’s
already proven to represent a “who’s-who” of East
Valley notables.
Realtor Patti Agnew, who shares the planning
duties with Rustler’s Rooste exec Tami Butcher (her
family owns the notable mountaintop watering hole
next to Arizona Grande Resort), says it’s a perfect
opportunity for adults to enjoy an evening of fun
while helping EVWL members to continue their
year-round charitable enterprises.
“This year’s event coincides with the start of
our annual Cinderella Affair, which we co-sponsor
with Tempe Community Council as a way to provide
free prom dresses to girls who can’t otherwise afford
them,” said Agnew.
Since its start more than a decade ago, the
program has generated donations of more than
13,000 dresses, all of them given away in what its
planners call “A Day of Making Dreams Come True.”
The 2014 campaign for donated dresses got
under way Feb. 3 and is ongoing until Feb. 22. (A
list of drop-off sites is available at the organization’s
website, www.evwl.org.)
Also upcoming among EVWL’s planned
philanthropic efforts for the year are:
• A major initiative by the group’s Packing for
Success committee that assists with assembling
school backpacks, scheduled April 16 in collaboration
with the Kyrene Resource Center. The center
oversees distribution of the donated items to
qualifying children in the Kyrene School District.
• Creating centerpieces for a Children’s Cancer
Network luncheon March 15 at the Arizona Biltmore
Resort. The group also will be helping with an “It’s
All About You” program Feb. 27 at the Children’s
Cancer Resource Center, 6150 W. Chandler Blvd., in
west Chandler.
• Planning for future sponsorships of therapy
horses at Camp Soaring Eagle, at which children
with diabetes and respiratory diseases have a chance
to enjoy nature in a safe, therapeutic environment.
For those who’d like to become part of EVWL’s
history of success helping others, membership
information, program dates, meeting locations and
other details are available online at www.evwl.org.

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