Patricia Paulsen
‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the Ranch, donors and volunteers were definitely stirring!
First, on December 14 CORR (Community Outreach Robson Ranch) featured cocktails, dinner and a concert in the new Hermosa Ballroom. The Hermosa Ballroom with its beautiful dining room and delicious menu, also the stage with its top-of-the-line lighting and state of the art sound was the perfect venue for our fundraiser. This event was organized by Betty Peterson, president of CORR. The cocktail hour allowed guests time to socialize and to decide which beautiful raffle items, either pottery, jewelry or gift baskets, would receive their raffle tickets. The program was emceed by Charlene Rule. She introduced our distinguished guests including the present mayor of Eloy, Joe Nagy, the mayor-elect of Eloy, Joel Belloc, the Pinal County Sherriff, Paul Babeu and his guests that night from the Sheriff’s Department, and the guests from Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles’ office. Char told meaningful stories, great jokes and made us all feel comfortable. The after-dinner entertainment was provided by the Domingo DeGrazia band, a Spanish and Flamenco band from Tucson. The music they perform includes elements of flamenco, pop, gypsy-folk, classical and Latin music. It was filled with energy and passion, a very enjoyable event and a very successful fundraiser.
Continuing on that same week before Christmas, on December 17 CORR and the Food and Beverage Department of Robson Ranch presented “A Morning of Generosity.” This also was held in the Hermosa Ballroom. Fifty-eight Robson Ranch residents donated over one thousand pounds of food, including turkeys and hams. Gifts also included many toys, scarves, hats and mittens. Included in the 20 families we gifted were 105 people! The Robson Ranch Food and Beverage staff decorated stockings for the families, too! The Food and Beverage Department also provided coffee, tea and delicious pastries for all of the donors and volunteers present that morning. CAHRA (Community Action Human Resources Agency) was present that day to assist with loading all the donations into their van to transport them to the Eloy Food Bank. One van turned out not to be enough so Charlotte and Tom Andrews, Robson residents, donated their time and vehicle to assist CAHRA with the transportation.
They sprang to their vans, to their team gave a whistle. And away they all drove like the down on a thistle. But I heard them exclaim ’ere they drove out of sight, Merry Christmas to all! See you next year!
Since this was such a resounding success, this fundraiser will be recurring annually!