For Bunny Edmonds, Laddie Stewart Hall and other members of the St. Luke's Board of Visitors, the most important fundraiser of 2009 has been 90 years in the making. The women agree the tradition, like the beneficiaries of proceeds raised for St. Luke's Home, is a treasure that grows more precious with each passing year.
Stewart Hall, co-chairwoman with Edmonds of the 90th Annual Baile de las Flores, said: "These are people who have been part of working America all of their lives, and now they have fallen through the cracks. Just because they are no longer working, that doesn't mean they don't deserve the respect and care they gave to others through their lives."
The fundraiser originated in 1919 to support St. Luke's, established as a tuberculosis sanitarium for World War I veterans. Staged by a group of women known as the Board of Visitors who regularly visited the veterans, the event was Tucson's first charity ball, according to publicity chairwoman Vicki Stanton.
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Membership in the Board of Visitors and participation in the Baile has become a tradition for generations of Tucsonans, many of whom are third- or fourth-generation legacies, Stewart Hall said. The group joined with the Junior League of Tucson in 1980 to reopen the facility as a home for elderly women of limited financial means. It has since expanded into a 64-unit assisted-living facility that can accommodate low-income men, women, siblings and couples age 55-plus.
Residents pay based on a sliding scale: The average resident contributes about $700 per month toward the $1,788 necessary to cover his or her room, board and care. The facility receives no federal or state funding, so the difference is bridged by donations, grants, private gifts and funds raised through the Baile de las Flores.
In addition to raising funds, volunteers provide hands-on support such as companionship, craft instruction, transportation and bingo-calling. Edmonds said they immensely enjoy this interaction with residents, who include veterans of different wars, a man who flew a crop duster on his family farm and a 100-year old woman who taught in a one-room schoolhouse.
"She became the first woman real estate broker in the state of New York and is just a delight to talk with; we have a little bit of everything at St. Luke's," Edmonds said.
Stewart Hall views her participation as an investment in both the past and the future.
"We volunteer to help the residents, but we get so much more back by learning the life lessons they share with us," she said.
How You Can Help
Attend the 90th Annual Baile de las Flores
When: 6 p.m. next Saturday.
Where: Skyline Country Club, 5200 E. St. Andrew's Drive.
Cost: $150 per person.
The fiesta includes dinner, dancing to the Tom Patrick Band, a silent auction and performances by Mariachi Brillante Juvenil and Ballet Folklorico de Davis.
If you can't attend, consider buying a raffle ticket for "Packing Through Red Rock Country," an original oil painting by Tucson artist Frederick Hambly. Tickets are $10 each or six for $50.
For more information: Go to the Web site at www.stlukeshome tucson.org (tax-deductible online donations are accepted); to make a Baile reservation or buy raffle tickets. Or call the St. Luke's Home Development Office at 624-5034.
