Volunteers roll out Red Carpet
Wolfe Street Foundation volunteers Charlotte Linch and Karen Holderfield are struggling to get a giant wood cutout of an Oscar statuette out of the back of a friend’s luxury SUV. The statuette’s size and base make it clunky and awkward to handle, but the pair are determined.
The iconic figure synonymous with the annual Academy Awards show was used the previous night at a party for patrons of the foundation’s forthcoming Red Carpet fundraiser, the organization’s largest annual event.
Guests at the Feb. 26 black-tie soiree will watch the Oscars on big screens in the grand ballroom of the Robinson Center. On the way in, they’ll have the chance to be interviewed on the red carpet with their remarks broadcast on closed-circuit televisions so other guests can see as they make their
way to the main event. The evening starts at 5:30 p.m.
Chairmen for the event are Allen and Ashley Engstrom, and a crowd of about 400 people is expected. Local celebrities are coming, too, such as writer and producer Graham Gordy, musician Caylee North, Miss Arkansas Savannah Skidmore, and writer and producer Dustin Prince.
Star power and a chance to act out her love of the red-carpet revelry keep Holderfield tied to the event.
“A lot of people like to watch the Oscars and see who wins,” she says. “I am so into the red carpet part.”
Holderfield, a sales rep for Downey Publishing, and Linch, a retired schoolteacher, are two in a five-member committee planning this elaborate event, which includes silent and live auctions, a sit-down dinner and chances to win a pair of 2.2-carat diamond hoop earrings donated by Jones & Son and valued at $4,400. The party formerly known as Lights, Camera, Action! is in its 18th year.
Wolfe Street Foundation is said to be Arkansas’ largest nonprofit resource dedicated to recovery from alcoholism and addiction. The organization’s 12,000-square-foot center at 1015 Louisiana St. in Little Rock is open 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, with a full slate of daily meetings for clients committed to the original 12 steps to recovery. A
voluminous bookstore in the entryway offers encouraging words in the form of books, cards, book markers, wall hangings and other items.
Almost all involved in Wolfe Street have been affected directly or indirectly by alcohol or addiction. In addition to meetings, the organization provides outreach and educational programs.
Wolfe Street Executive Director Caroline Ford says several local circuit judges send drunken-driving offenders to Wolfe Street to work off their community service hours. And Wolfe Street is consistently the place judges send first-time offenders of alcohol-related offenses.
The foundation also provides workshops and corporate training for individuals and companies.
Some folks might have a problem reconciling the fact that alcohol will be served in abundance at next weekend’s fundraiser.
“A lot of people who support Wolfe Street are [well aware of] the public health menace of addiction, substance abuse and alcoholism,” Ford explains. “They have children or grandchildren who have been in treatment. We are not prohibitionists.”
Ford, on the job since April, calls Linch and Holderfield “volunteers like no other.” Holderfield is in her seventh year as a volunteer for Wolfe Street; Linch is in her third. Both live in Little Rock.
Linch was pulled in by the center’s former executive director, Markey Ford (no relation to the current executive director).
“We were at a meeting together and afterward, she asked [the group] if anyone could organize,” Linch says. Having been a teacher, she has those inherent skills. “It was for this particular event that she needed help, and that’s how I got started here.”
Holderfield went from being a Red Carpet patron to a worker — on the spot.
She was asked to sell little boxes wrapped in red paper that are provided to guests who participate in the raffle. Just 100 boxes sell for $40 each. One box has a note for the winner, who will get the diamond hoop earrings this year. Holderfield did such a good job hawking the red boxes that she was asked back the next year to help.
Live auction items include a private flight to Querencia Golf Club & Properties in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, which includes a five-night stay at a private residence for up to six people. The live auction also will include more jewelry from Jones & Son; a Tony Bowls wardrobe and jewelry package from Emerge in Conway; and an original work by Little Rock artist Stephano.
Wolfe Street has a few other fundraisers but none as fruitful as Red Carpet. Proceeds from all Wolfe Street fundraisers go to the center.