Fifteen women who will be honored at SafeHaven’s 18^thLegacy of Women Awards luncheon, set for Oct. 29 at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. 

The women selected represent diverse aspects of the arts, business, education, health and human services, and volunteerism. This year’s format was changed to include an honoree in each category from three geographic areas: northeast Tarrant County, greater Fort Worth and greater Arlington. 

The 15 chosen will be recognized at the October luncheon where Darren McGrady, former chef to Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth will serve as keynote speaker. The event serves as a fundraiser for SafeHaven of Tarrant County, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending family violence. SafeHaven of Tarrant County operates two emergency shelters that can accommodate 174 women and children in Tarrant County.

The 2010 honorees and their categories include:

Arts

Arlington: LeeAnn Chenoweth-Lawson, president, producer and violinist for Timeless concerts

Fort Worth: Rebecca Low, owner and sculptor at Rebecca Low Sculptural Metal Gallery and Studio.

Northeast Tarrant County:  DeeAnn Blair, executive producer at Artisan Center Theater.

 Business

Arlington: Taylor Gray, owner of The Shoppes at Brownstone Village.

Fort Worth: Shirlee Gandy, owner at RPM Commercial.

Northeast Tarrant County: Susan Clark, owner of Sweet Memories Cakes and Catering.

Education

Mansfield: Dee Lemser, retired teacher at Mansfield ISD.

Fort Worth: Mary Cinatl, director of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth

Northeast Tarrant County: Janice Kane, executive director of the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD Education Foundation.

Health & Human Services

Arlington: Donna Bertram, vice president and chief nursing officer at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital.

Fort Worth: Susan Sward-Comunelli, president of the board and medical director of Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas.

Northeast Tarrant County: State Rep. Vicki Truitt, District 98.

Volunteerism

Arlington: Cristy Duke, volunteer for Junior League of Arlington, the Boys and Girls Club, The Oakridge School and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Fort Worth: Gail Landreth, volunteer for Historic Fort Worth, Inc., Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Jewel Charity and The Junior League of Fort Worth.

Northeast Tarrant County: Shirley Schollmeyer, volunteer for the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, The City of Colleyville, Colleyville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Colleyville Women’s Club and  the Colleyville Garden Club.

For more information, visit the website at www.safehaventc.org or call 817 535-6462.

I can just hear the rumors now…”if you retire from GRACE, they give you a car.”

Right….

For those of you who don’t know it, Snopes.com is where you check out the truth to certain urban legends. But because I am a full-service blogger, I will save you the trouble. GRACE, the non-profit agency otherwise known as Grapevine Relief and Community Exchange, hosted its sixth annual black-tie gala Saturday night at The Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.

Lovely affair…men in tuxedos…floral centerpieces…all the bells and whistles, you know…and a raffle. For a car. Anyone could buy a raffle ticket, including a certain former executive director. Even the founding director.

So when the winning ticket was pulled out of the hopper Saturday night…drum roll, please…it belonged to Tricia Wood, now the retired founding executive of GRACE. How nice of her to be wearing a red dress to match the red of her new Chevy Camaro.

For those not lucky enough to win the car raffle, there was plenty of entertainment at this party organized by co-chairs Darla Dennison and Shirley Schollmeyer. Besides being served a dinner that included both beef and shrimp, the very cool band Inside Out put on quite a show for our dancing pleasure. Seems a rendition of Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies” was quite popular.

The dancing was preceded by the auction, of course, and no one worked harder at the auction than GRACE’s current executive director, Shonda Schaefer. While auctioneer Andy Dunning pushed bids into what should be a very successful fundraiser, Shonda was on her feet thanking bidders for their contributions to the charity dedicated to the less fortunate in Northeast Tarrant County.

Seen at the party were Robin and James Hall, Jack Fleming, Gayle and Glen Christensen and Judy and Tom Hund, this year’s winners of the Angel of Grace Award.

Even with Shonda reluctant to reveal just where the final numbers were for this fundraiser (and she was happy), the party must have been deemed a success. Plans are already underway for a 2010 “Angels Among Us” fundraiser.