Honoring Women Gala
Dear Editor: Sitkans Against Family Violence wants to thank everyone who made the 21st Honoring Women Gala a full success. First of all, there are the four women who agreed to be Women of the Year 2019: Emily Davis, Lynne Brandon, Michelle Putz and Renée Trafton. Without them and their various services to the community we would not have a reason to celebrate.
We thank our sponsors, First Bank, Neurobehavioral Consultants and White’s Inc.; Debby LeVeck, Jim Shepard and Ritch Phillips for beautiful live music; Christine Pate for her informed, funny and creative way of guiding through the evening as Mistress of Ceremony; Edith Johnson from Our Town Catering for serving an exceptionally delicious dinner; Jim Mullins and other dedicated Alaska Airlines agents for making the impossible possible so that the ordered food was delivered on time, in spite of the fact that one freight plane was down.
We thank Danielle Cassedy, Kim Gleason and Mean Queen for hosting the bar; Bev Frost of Bev’s Flowers for beautiful flowers and corsages; volunteers Anna Kim and 10 MEHS students of the National Honor Society, Jonah Mc Clenahan, Tia Patkotak, Alliyah Nay, Kennedy Langlie, Delainey Steffes, Maggie Miller, Josh DeAsis, Mackenzie Smith, Ashlyn Strom and Brayden Bahnke for being kind, friendly, and attentive servers; and Sandy Baird, Joann Torgeson, Aleeta Bauder, Bridget Hitchcock and Larry Edwards for helping set up the silent auction.
We thank Julia Smith and three students of the Sitka Youth Leadership Committee, Aani Perkins, Darby Osborne and Jordan David, for an enlightening presentation and video screening of their latest campaign ‘‘Know Your Privilege, Share Your Power.’’
We thank Old Harbor Books for selling tickets; the Daily Sitka Sentinel, Raven Radio KCAW, KIFW and the Sitka Soup for promoting the event; Dan Etulain of North Star TV for recording the presentation and award ceremony; and Natalie Wojcik for producing the slide shows of the honorees.
Last but not least, we thank the many businesses, organizations and individuals for donating generously to the silent auction. Your gifts make this event what it is: a successful fundraiser for this organization. And of course, we are grateful for everyone who attended the Gala, bid on auction items, and continues to support SAFV in our mission to provide empowerment-based safety and advocacy services to victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence and promote a community of non-violence and respect. Only as a whole community working together we can reach our goal.
Sitkans Against Family Violence
Board and staff
