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Crozier Gala to celebrate 20 years
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
October 18, 2007
Planning for next April’s Crozier Gala is well underway, according to Donna Marino, president and CEO of the Catholic Community Foundation, which hosts the popular fundraiser.
This year, the gala holds special significance, Marino said, because it marks both the 25th anniversary of the Catholic Community Foundation and the 20th anniversary of the event.
The gala will be held April 19 at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale.
“We are hoping for a record crowd,” she said. “We hope that all the former chairmen of the board of the foundation and all the former chairwomen of the dinner will be in attendance.”
Colleen Will, this year’s Crozier Gala chairwoman, said that many of her predecessors have been helping plan the event.
“It’s a challenge,” Will said of keeping everything organized. “They’ve been incredible, very, very helpful.”
In addition to honoring past leaders of the foundation and dinner, the upcoming gala will recognize Bruce and Diane Halle of the Halle Family Foundation for their work with the Vatican in restoring some of Michelangelo’s artwork.
Marino said the foundation hopes to honor “a family or a couple who have really demonstrated extraordinary Catholic philanthropy” each year from now on.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary planning committee, the Catholic Community Foundation hosted a Mass and breakfast Oct. 11 at the downtown Diocesan Pastoral Center.
“For a successful Crozier Dinner, we need to work and we need to pray,” said Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, who celebrated the Mass.
The morning gave a chance for past chairmen and women to meet this year’s committee and underscored the bishop’s support of the event, Will said.
“The bishop is very supportive of the Cozier Dinner,” she said. “There’s a saying that he has that I think is so beautiful. He says it’s an evening of listing off all the beautiful works of the Catholic Community Foundation, which is true.”
Those works rely upon the event for their funding each year, Marino said, noting that it is the foundation’s only fundraiser.
The money raised by the gala comprises the unrestricted funds that the foundation awards through its competitive grants program. The money directly supports local Catholic schools, communication programs, catechetical formation and services to the poor.
The evening will feature a dance band and outside entertainment as guests arrive. Although the committee has not yet announced the gala’s celebrity master of ceremonies or the main act, Will said attendees can expect a great time.
“It’s truly one of my favorite evenings because it’s multi-generational,” she said. “You see every age group: people in their 70s and 80s, and you see couples who are 25 and 30.”
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