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Amy Scherzer's Diary

Neighbors help kids

By AMY SCHERZER
Published December 16, 2005

Call her patron saint of neglected children. Dottie Berger MacKinnon, founder of the Joshua House shelter and a Guardian ad Litem since 2003, recently founded Kids Charity of Tampa Bay. The foundation will help all foster children, not just her handful.

For her first fundraiser, Home Is Where the Heart Is, MacKinnon looked around her Davis Islands block. Four Blanca Avenue neighbors joined her in offering their waterfront homes for a strolling dinner party Dec. 10.

"It was fun and different," Berger MacKinnon said. "People got to meet other guests as they walked from house to house. I think it was the best party I've ever done."

Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at Jim and Sandy Murman's home launched the group. Next, nearly 200 guests followed the "Pied Piper," saxophonist Mike Gibilisco, to Dottie and Sandy MacKinnon's house for shrimp and crab. He led them to soup and salad wraps at Tino and Marie Martinez's house, where guests ogled the gorgeous view from the pool and dock.

Next they ambled over to JoAnne and Tim Prugh's house, where the couple set up carving stations in a heated tent. The evening ended at the home of Elaine and Robert Engleman, who served Bananas Foster, cordials, coffee and cigars. Because all the hosts picked up their own expenses, the charity raised $30,000.

GO BUCS: Naughty or Nice? Jolly St. Nick listened to a dozen Tampa Bay Buccaneers' wives strutting down the runway at Georgette's of Old Hyde Park's 17th annual fashion lunch Dec. 8. Cindy Gruden, Damaris Quarles, Bashi Saunders and the others sported embellished denim with fur-accented tops, cocktail dresses and glam gowns as they whispered their Christmas wishes to Santa.

Diane Cox and Georgette Diaz have sold out every show since they started with 185 women at Avila Country Club. This year's record turnout of 700-plus caused some major parking hassles at the Hyatt Regency Tampa.

For the fourth time, Cox and Diaz chose St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation to be the beneficiary. Silent and live auctions (run by emcee Dick Crippen) helped raise $34,000 for the Saving Young Hearts capital campaign. The hospital's goal: build two pediatric surgical suites.

That set off some envious University Community Hospital loyalists in the audience. They rushed to point out that as a Pewter Partner of the Tampa Bay Bucs, UCH is the team's official hospital, not St. Joseph's.

DEDICATED AND DELICIOUS: If you were going to fudge the diet, the LAMPLighters Silver Christmas Coffee was the right place to do it. The Dec. 8 get-together at Greg and Alysia Ekizian's beautiful Palma Ceia estate brimmed with yummy treats, all homemade by the members. I hope they took samples out to the valets who somehow managed to park all those cars in the narrow brick street maze.

Thanks to 100 guests arriving with generous checks, the coffee raised more than $7,000, co-chairwoman Jeanette Vanderhook said. It will buy gifts for children at Joshua House and Metropolitan Ministries, including some of the kids who sang Christmas carols to the ladies.

BE A (PHONE) FRIEND: Temple Terrace City Council member Ron Govin and City Manager Kim Leinbach added modeling to their credentials at Puttin' on the Glitz on Dec. 7 at the Hyatt Regency Tampa. They hammed it up at the 18th annual celebrity fashion show sponsored by the Northside Mental Health Auxiliary to benefit PhoneFriends, which offers kids afterschool homework help and attention.

The audience applauded wildly, but with the exception of Tampa arts manager Paul Wilborn, these guys better hang on to their day jobs. Wilborn went Hollywood in sunglasses and cruise wear. Others, like Miss Tampa 2003 Charleene Closshey, modeled career styles, denim and formal looks from the Yellow Orchid Boutique in Temple Terrace. Closshey also sang and played the violin. Kelly Clements Hoffman choreographed.

Executive director Marsha Lewis Brown reminded the 400 women why they were there when she played a tape of the children calling PhoneFriends. Auxiliary president Dee Griffith got emotional thanking emcee Jack Harris for always being so supportive. The event raised more than $20,000.

- Amy Scherzer can be reached at scherzer@sptimes.com or 226-3332. To find more pictures and read the party blog, go to www.sptimes.com/party

DEC. 24: Vodka Latke, formerly Matzo Ball; 8:30 p.m.; Code Nightclub, 1507 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. Jewish singles and couples ages 21-45 welcome; $20 in advance at www.jewishtampa.com $25 at the door; 769-2803.

DEC. 29: Sixth annual Kwanzaa Celebration hosted by North Tampa African Alliance; 6 p.m.; St. Paul Catholic Church; 12708 N Dale Mabry Highway; $15 for adults, $10 for teens, $5 for children; 961-6239.

DEC. 31: Florida Orchestra's New Year's Eve Hollywood Nites gala; dancing to the Florida Orchestra and Southtown Fever; fireworks; $350 and up; Renaissance Vinoy Resort; 286-1170, ext. 318.

DEC. 31: New Year's Eve at the Florida Aquarium; 9 p.m.-1 a.m.; adults only; $80 for members, $85 general, $90 at the door; 273-4568.

DEC. 31: Eighteen89 hosts New Year's Eve benefit for YMCA; black-tie optional; 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; Lion's Eye Institute, 1410 N 21st St.; free for members, $150 for nonmembers; 224-9622.

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 10:05:12]