Mt. Vernon Register-News

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February 4, 2012

Celebrity Waiter Dinner will benefit Amy Center

By RORYE O’CONNOR rorye.oconnor@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The fourth Celebrity Waiter dinner to benefit the Amy Center is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11.

LaDonna Richards, Amy Center director, said the event is already breaking its own records.

“We have the most auction items we’ve ever had, thanks to the community that’s supporting us,” she said.

“We’ve got about 50 auction items. We’ve also got more waiters than we’ve ever had. We’ve got 24 tables.”

She said the organization plans to host at least 225 people at this year’s event.

The Celebrity Waiter Dinner is an event, supporting the Amy Center, a children’s advocacy center started in 1990, in which local “celebrities” sell tickets and then serve their ticket holders at the dinner. The waiter who gets the most tips at the event wins a price, as well as the waiter deemed “most fun” or “most energetic.”

The band “South of 70” will serve as the evening’s entertainment, Richards said, and Amy Center board member Mike Vladetich has volunteered his time to control the sound system.

She said the table decorations so far will include a Red Hat Lady table, a traditional Filipino theme, 60s, Grease and a Kentucky Derby theme.

The event will also include dancing and a silent auction, Richards added. She said the silent auction items include a Kindle Fire, a Nikon camera, hotel nights, food and restaurant entertainment and a St. Louis Cardinals rug.

“I really feel good about the success of this year,” she said. “We needed it. We were cut by 25 percent on two grants by the attorney general, and we have to replace that money. As a team, we’re trying to make good impressions with the community and not make the focus about the losses. It has to be about the child, we have to make it work.”

Richards said some of the new waiters this year are people running for office, but she said three of the new tables are Amy Center board members who decided to host their own tables.

“This year, I’m really excited,” she said.

“For the first year, we have three tables that are people from our multidisciplinary team,” which she said includes law enforcement, mental health personnel, and Amy Center employees and volunteers, who meet monthly to help children.

“This is the first year we’ve had four tables of our team members. We’ve never had that before and it feels good.”

Richards said though the celebrity waiters have already sold 225 tickets, more people could be squeezed in.

She said those who are interested should call the Amy Center at 244-2100.

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