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On the Town

By Mary Jane Park, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, September 21, 2008

Family Service Centers committee member Vikki Wooten admires SunOne by Vince Anthony during artHEALS 2008, a gala presented Sept. 13 by Family Service Centers and Florida Craftsmen.
	[JAMES BRANAMAN\uFEFF | Special to the Times]

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09.13.08

The statuary, the columns, the underlighting and the lush foliage gave an air of nighttime mystery in the gardens leading to Kapok Special Events Center, where "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," a gala to benefit the Gulfcoast Oncology Foundation, packed more than 250 patrons into the ballroom inside.

The old Kapok Tree restaurant closed in the early 1990s after having been a destination for Tampa Bay residents and tourists for more than three decades. It has had several incarnations since, but its availability as an entertainment venue was a surprise to numerous guests, said foundation director Jane Morse-Swett, who also served on the event committee.

There is no final accounting of the proceeds, but money raised at the event will help support cancer patients in the Tampa Bay region who struggle to pay bills beyond those for their medical treatments.

Gala chair Debbie Turner, live auction chair Barbara Paonessa and silent auction chair Bonnie Scholz led the event committee, which included Judith Bagshaw, Susan Cameron, Lu Garrett, Donna Hearn, Chris Mungin, Shari Nelson, Marcia Smith, Laura Stewart-Pemble, Ashley Surdyk, Gail Van Zanten, Kathy Wilder, Stephanie Willis and Terri Ziegler.

The foundation got its start through Gulfcoast Oncology Associates. Dr. Jeffrey Paonessa, who founded the practice, was in attendance, as were Dr. Andy and Janet Peterson, Dr. Rich and Sue Knipe and numerous Gulfcoast Oncology employees, many of whom contributed considerable volunteer hours toward the effort.

"We wouldn't have been able to pull this off if they hadn't been here," Morse-Swett said. "They're all behind this foundation 100 percent."

09.13.08

Tablecloths fluttered in the breeze along the expansive lawn at the historic Rutland-Farley mansion, and patrons attending artHEALS 2008, a gala presented by Family Service Centers and Florida Craftsmen, strolled along the grounds admiring — and bidding on — works from a number of accomplished Tampa Bay area artists, including Neverne Covington, Donna Gordon, Lynn Carol Henderson, Betsy Orbe Lester, Duncan McClellan, Leslie Newmann, Charlie Parker and Christopher Still.

The benefit also featured works created by professional artists in collaboration with survivors of sexual violence. Family Service Centers uses therapeutic art as one way to accomplish healing for those who have suffered sexual attacks.

Philip and Michele Farley were hosts for the event. Co-chairs Sherry Matthews and Elise Minkoff led a committee that included Mary Wyatt Allen, Tamara Beard, Chris Hilton, Amy Holland, Debbie Kraujalis, Kerry Kriseman, Janie Lorenz, Adam Mayefsky, Karlana Morgan, Elizabeth Shaw, Rebecca Skelton and Ann Vickstrom.

Mary Jo Monahan, Family Service Centers' president and chief executive, greeted guests, and Marcia Crawley, the Salvador Dali Museum's director of development, was mistress of ceremonies.