Third Annual Gala for Hope and Awareness 2002
On October 3rd, 2002, the WFA hosted their third annual celebration of Hope
Gala at Lake Isle Country Club. The evening began with a cocktail hour
and Silent Auction. Also, our guests enjoyed free character paintings,
a 50/50 raffle, a school raffle, a mystery raffle, and artist Willie Britt
displayed his paintings. An award ceremony was held during dinner and
the honorees for this year were Mr. David Anthony Pope, Mr. Vito Pinto, Mrs.
Nina Spooner, and Mrs. Jane Gertler and Mrs. Penny Ward of Xerox. Guest
speakers included Thomas Abinanti, who presented all the honorees with proclamations. The
WFA presented a check for $500.00 to the organization O.A.R. (Organization
for Autism Research). Mr. Dean Koocher (Treasurer of O.A.R.) spoke about
the organization's mission and hopes for the future.
One of the highlights of the vening was a young lady, Miranda Vinci (Miranda
is diagnosed with Autism), who wowed the crowd with her amazing voice as she
sang two songs. Miranda had many of us in tears as she spoke to us about
being proud of who she is and her enthusiasm and love for life just left us
all in awe. Miranda was accompanied by Billy Ayres, a piano player and
music teacher, who spoke about working with Miranda. Billy was just awesome
on the piano.
