Amy Scherzer's Diary

Fight for Life

At first glance, A La Carte Pavilion was set up for a typical black-tie benefit as guests sipped cocktails and bid on silent auction items. A second look saw guests sitting down to steak and lobster around a red, white and blue boxing ring. No band, no dance floor, but five amateur boxing matches roused the crowd to "KO Breast Cancer'' at the April 4 "Fight for Life" gala.

J.P. Peterson, WQYK-AM 1010, and Alicia Kaye, WSJT-FM 94.1, emceed, helping Charity for Women organizers raise $30,000 for St. Joseph's, St. Anthony's and Morton Plant Mease hospital foundations to spend on breast cancer patients. With that in mind, Olympic hopeful Lenroy Thompson wore all pink to fight Curtis Harper.

Among the ample eye candy in the crowd: Winghouse-sponsored ring girls and several 13 Ugly Men, including Lee Mezrah and Donnie Nurnberger.

But the guy having the most fun was legendary cornerman Angelo Dundee of Oldsmar, who happily chatted with fans about the boxing greats he worked with — Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman — to drop a few names.

Yacht clubbers support Moffitt Cancer Center

Timmy Woods and the witty, wooden handbags she designs helped raise $1,500 for the Center for Women's Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center.

"The money came from selling chances to win four handbags, and its going to turn around and help women right here in the area,'' said Laura Barber, a cancer survivor who helped organize the Tampa Yacht and Country Club luncheon March 19 that featured Woods as guest speaker.

This was Woods' second visit to TYCC, and the Beverly Hills entrepreneur knows her market. She began by inviting anyone who carries and collects her handbags to come up and "model" them. Up popped lunch chairwoman Mary Lib Howell, Lollie Bever, Lavinia Branch, Hedy Cook, Molly Crews, Kathleen Purdy and Betty Wood, among others, eager to share how they acquired their purses.

Woods was delighted to autograph their collections, from the sophisticated to the silly, bunnies to banana splits, puppy to pirate.

Woods told her story, too. It was in Singapore in 1992 when she saw acacia wood boxes as potential purses and launched her line. During lunch, Sarah Fairbairn and Elizabeth Redd twirled between tables modeling fashions from Georgette's & the Shoe Salon and Woods' bags, like the Eiffel Tower design carried by Sarah Jessica Parker in the movie Sex and the City. With Swarovski crystals it sells for $3,000; without for $450.

Las Damas de Arte

They know all the cliches about starving artists. That's why Las Damas de Arte stages its annual sale, Sunday in the Arts, to fund scholarships for local art students. Leigh and Bill Haines of Teatro on Seventh hosted the creative gathering and donated hors d'oeuvres and desserts to go with the cash bar. LaRue Nichelson Group played just the right music April 5 to accompany works of Dorothy Cowden, Maggie Newman, Joyce Lazzara, Suzanne Camp Crosby, Eileen Goldenberg, Debra Jo Radke and 50 other female artists in all media.

Stunning wearable art included bead necklaces by Anne Kantor, and Lea Davis' and Linda Bever's clever shoe clips and brooches turned into bracelets. Artists kick back 30 percent of sales to the scholarship fund.

Sunday in the Arts is a juried show, and Maria Emilia, director of Florida Craftsmen, judged Yoko Nogami's conte crayon drawing Best of Show. Lori Ballard took first place for her Orchid Tree photograph. Kathy Wright placed second for her oil painting, Chickens2. (You can see her work now at Clayton Gallery.) Third place went to past president Kimberli Cummings for her terrific Tampa tango vase.