Tickets On Sale for Grande Dames Tea

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Feb. 12, 2015 - PRLog -- Tickets are now on sale for the Grande Dames Tea presented by the PACE Center for Girls of Lee County.

         The Grande Dames Tea honoring Sharlene Hamel Dozier of Fort Myers, M. Jacqueline McCurdy of Bonita Springs, and Melvin Morgan of Fort Myers will be Friday, March 20, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Broadway Palm at 1380 Colonial Blvd. in Fort Myers.

Mei-Mei Chan, The News-Press Media Group President and Publisher, will once again serve as mistress of ceremonies.

         Seats for the tea are $60 per person and may be reserved either online at www.pacecenter.org/lee or by phoning 239-470-7548. Table sponsorships are also available. Attendees are encouraged to wear their favorite tea party hat.

Chair of the Grande Dames Tea is Deanna Hansen with Mary Fischer serving as co-chair.  Both women also are members of the PACE Lee Board of Directors.

“These three outstanding women come from varied backgrounds and are sure to have some insightful advice for the audience and the PACE girls,” said Hansen.

“Our theme of The Wisdom of Age – Honoring the Female Spirit is so appropriate because each of these women has much to share from her own life’s journey,” Fischer said.

This is the seventh year of the historic Grande Dames Tea.  Previous honorees have included Berne Davis, Eleanore Kleist and the late Barbara B. Mann in 2009; Jeanne Bochette, Helen Hendry and Veronica Shoemaker in 2010; Myra Daniels, Kathleen Nealon and the late Mimi Straub in 2011; Michel Doherty, Mavis Miller and Anna “Boots” Tolles in 2012; Thelma Hodges, Helen O’Rourke McClary and Ettie Francis Walsh in 2013; and Barbara Norris Brown, Sarah Sciple and Margaret Sirianni in 2014..

The Grande Dames Tea was originated by PACE Center for Girls of Lee County to honor women who have played major roles in Southwest Florida history through decades of service, philanthropy and helping others.

The agenda for the tea will include interaction between the PACE girls and the three Grande Dames, in a question and answer format that Komnick and Hansen said “is sure to be thought-provoking and poignant.”

PACE Center for Girls, Inc., is a non-residential program targeting the unique needs of girls, ages 12 to 18 years old, facing challenges such as physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, foster care, neglect, death of a parent, family history of incarceration and declining grades.

PACE is a Florida-based, not for profit organization, and the only statewide prevention program for adolescent at-risk girls in the nation.  In the past year, the Lee County program provided 116 girls with education, counseling, training and advocacy resulting in 94 percent having no involvement with juvenile justice within six months of leaving PACE, 88 percent improving their academic performance and 80 percent remaining in school or obtaining employment three years after leaving PACE.  As a result, PACE reduces the significant long term costs associated with teen pregnancy, substance abuse, unemployment and long term economic dependency.

PACE accepts referrals from the juvenile justice system, the Department of Children & Families, school personnel, community services agencies, parents, family members, friends and self-referrals.

For information about the Grande Dames Tea or to become a sponsor, please contact PACE Development Director Lynnae Stewart at (239) 470-7548, or visit http://pacecenter.org/lee