Last February the Washington Hancock Community Agency (WHCA) held a Valentine’s dinner-dance at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Ellsworth to raise money for WHCA’s new THAW — “The Heating and Warmth” — fund. The fund was founded to help people in Hancock and Washington counties who have used up every other resource for heat and are, as vice-chairman Wendy Sabattis said, “at the end of their rope.”
Most people need 800 to 1,000 gallons of fuel each winter. In 2005, WHCA gave each client who qualified for federal heating assistance funds about $440, which purchased about 169 gallons of fuel. But the price of fuel has risen so drastically this year that Community Services Director and dinner-dance chairman Eleanor West figures it will cost about $700 to fill an oil tank.
Last year’s fund-raising dinner-dance, called “The Night of Warm Hearts” featured hostesses to guide couples to their seats, free photographs and drawings for prizes such as handmade gold jewelry, a trip to Nova Scotia on the CAT and a spa visit and makeover. It sold out — no easy feat, considering that tickets cost $50 each — but some generous patrons bought tables of ten for $500.
This year, West and Sabattis knew they had to do something extraordinary to create another sellout evening. They also realized, Sabattis said, “that increased heating costs have affected everyone, so we chose not to increase ticket costs this year.” Instead, they increased the seating from 350 to 400 and raised the number of donated prizes.
When guests arrive at the Ellsworth Holiday Inn on High Street for the Second Annual Night of Warm Hearts Dinner-Dance, on Feb. 11, they will find valet parking, a coat check, hostesses who will invite them to stroll down Lovers’ Lane to their assigned seats, a photographer waiting to take their (free) photographs. a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres. During the evening, winning ticket numbers for donated prizes will be announced.
For tickets call 207-664-2424, ext. 4445. To contribute, send checks to THAW Fund, WHCA, POB 299, Ellsworth, ME 04605.