STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Get on your sexy disco best! After all, it is for a good cause.
Ali Long, who has championed a variety of causes in the valley, is now hosting a VIP cocktail party and swanky New York Studio 54-style disco club in an evening that she’s dubbed “Hoopla for Housing.”
The event kicks off with a cocktail party at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, at The Argyros with local food appetizers provided by Chef Melissa Mauselle. The fun-raiser will include plenty of time for socializing and getting one’s groove on. And it will also include short spiels by representatives from four housing initiatives at 7 p.m.
At 7:30 p.m. attendees will be admitted to the theater, which will have been converted into the disco club complete with disco balls, lounge sofas and armchairs, DJ, open bar and VIP table service.
Ticket purchasers will be able to choose where they want the donation dollars from their ticket purchases and sponsorships to go to.
Long said she decided to throw the party after buying a “Party at The Argyros” auction item at a Higher Ground fundraiser earlier this spring. She hired Jamie Antolini of Night Train Entertainment to help her produce the fundraiser.
“While working to raise money for Warm Springs Preserve, the most common question I got was: How can you milk this community for $9 million when people don’t have places to live?” recounted Long, who also has been involved in efforts on behalf of the Sawtooth Botanical Garden and Local Food Alliance.
“My response was that the housing solution, although urgent, did not have an expiration date like the Preserve did. And I did promise those people that I would devote my fundraising efforts to housing as soon as the Preserve was secured,” she added. “My goal in this party is to give people a fun reason to learn about and participate in housing solutions. We hope this will be the first in a series of housing “Fun-raisers,” with the next one slated in September.”
Those who will give short spiels about their works are:
- Spur Housing Fund Director Sally Gillespie
- ARCH Director Michelle Griffith
- Blaine County Housing Authority Board President Sarah Michael, and
- Blaine County Community Fund Director Mary Fauth.
The event costs $150 per person. Tickets are available at https://theargyros.org/calendar/hoopla-for-housing/