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Saturday's Internet Edition, July 31, 2010.
RM celebrates women at Mother’s Day event
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Photo by Sheri Barile
The generations gather to enjoy a Mother’s Day tea and fundraiser dubbed Queen Mum for a Day on May 9 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Rancho Murieta.
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By Sheri Barile
River Valley Times Reporter
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A fundraiser for a women’s non-profit organization turned into a fun day for Rancho Murieta women when the inaugural Queen Mum for a Day Tea event got underway. The community-wide event took place on Mother’s Day, May 9, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in RM.
The event featured a lunch of finger sandwiches, cheese, fresh fruit, mimosas, tea and homemade scones served by men in handmade aprons. It was attended by 150 mothers, grandmothers, children and extended family members. The women in the group were provided with colorful feather boas and sparkling tiaras to wear while they dined.
The highlight of the day followed lunch when the 14 male servers took to a fashion runway to auction off their aprons to the sounds of “I’m Too Sexy,” “Vogue” and “Cup of Life.” Women in the audience placed bids as high as $110 in response to the antics of the models that strutted, danced, leaped off the stage and worked the crowd. In addition, a wooden tea box crafted and donated by apron model Denny Berg was auctioned off.
Event organizers Charlotte Dubey, Stacy Garza, Julie Doran, Annie Harrigan and Melissa Willis were still in the process of tallying up the fundraising results at press time, but the aprons were said to have brought in $1,400, and the event grossed $3,400. All profits will go to Wellspring Women’s Center in the Sacramento community of Oak Park.
Also contributing to the fundraising efforts was a balloon sale featuring prizes and a Petals for Mom sale in which attendees could honor a deceased mother by purchasing a colorful petal to pin up on a flower board.
Dubey said that, for an inaugural event, it went extremely well. “It was a huge success,” she said. “We’ve had tons of positive feedback from people who left laughing. They’re already talking about next year. We hope to make this an annual community event.”
Lisa Baker was one who left smiling and laughing. She attended with a large group of family members including two grandmothers. “They (the grandmothers) kept talking about how nice the apron fashion show was,” Baker said. “The guys made the whole day, and it really tickled the grandmothers. It was great having them serve us, but the fashion show was the icing on the cake.”
To prepare for the fashion show, the men selected their aprons and songs and rehearsed with Lissa Smith of Studio 16 in RM to develop some dance moves. Garza said that the preparation seemed to get the men energized. “They were excited,” Garza said. “Big Pappa (Brad Brozaitis) got the cheetah theme going with his apron selection and carried it right down to his socks.”
RM Country Club pro Greg Corsaut was seventh or eighth in the lineup. “It was nerve-wracking because I’m not much of a dancer,” Corsaut said. “But I used a golf club as a prop, and Lissa did help me develop some moves.”
Apron model Blake Carmichael didn’t need much prompting to take the stage. “It was not hard at all for the ladies to convince us to do this,” he said. “I thought it would be great fun, and it was. My mother-in-law was there and had a great time." There were smiles as well for the six children taking the stage to model aprons, bringing the total number of aprons auctioned off to 20.
During some of the festivities, children were provided with a movie and craft activity room where many made Mother’s Day cards for their moms. Doran said this was just one more way to make the mothers feel pampered. “It was nice that the men catered to us,” she said. “But the kid’s activity room also gave us a break.”
Doran was in charge of the table centerpieces, which were among the 60 prizes inside 75 balloons that were for sale. She selected plants for the centerpieces that could be transplanted in RM yards to commemorate the day.
Mary Anne Corsaut was the winner of one of those centerpieces. “I thought the whole thing was so darned cute, and it was for such a good cause. Those young ladies worked very hard, and I’ll bet next year it will be even bigger. It’s something you won’t want to miss.”
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Online publication, Copyright 2005, The River Valley Times.
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