'Life is Rich' event will spread the wealth

Through the Life is Rich fundraiser on Saturday, Feb. 21, the organization plans to donate more than $12,000 to various projects including The Haven, a residential treatment facility for women in recovery from addiction; Keep the Girl in the Game, which provides student extracurricular activity fees through the TUSD Educational Enrichment Foundation Interscholastic Scholarship Program; and Miracle Square, a nonprofit that provides apartments, utilities and other resources designed to promote self-reliance for economically disadvantaged elderly and disabled Tucsonans.

Proceeds also will go toward Soroptimist-specific projects such as the Women's Opportunity Award, a grant to help a female head-of-household return to the work force.

"Each one of these programs is very interesting in its own right, and it makes you very proud to be part of the Tucson community with the really good things these people do," said Mary Elizabeth Pollard, communications director for Soroptimist International of Desert Tucson.

Miracle Square — which has a waiting list — would not exist without donations from organizations such as Soroptimist, said Operations Director Jeannette Warren.

Warren said that rent for the the majority of the 65 low-income residents at Miracle Square's two facilities is based on a sliding fee scale and financial contributions to the organization help subsidize not only the facility's operating expenses but client utilities, household goods, support services and activities. She said gifts and in-kind donations help clients stretch limited income and maintain quality of life.

"With so many baby boomers coming of retirement age, by 2010 we expect to have a huge retired population in Arizona, many of whom are low-income. We help the government from having to pay out more to nursing homes where the care is much more expensive than for us to provide this care.," Warren said.

Pollard said the 45 members of the local Soroptimist International chapter have supported a broad spectrum of charities over the past three decades, including Casa de los Niños, Brewster Center (now Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse) and Habitat for Humanity.

"It's a wonderful experience to be with a group of women who have a commitment to their community and women's issues and making a difference — as trite as that sounds, but it really does make a difference in people's lives ," Pollard said.

How You Can Help

Attend Life is Rich

• When: 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 21

• Where: Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.

• Cost: $30 per person

• Festivities include a screening of OT: Our Town, an award-winning documentary by Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy that casts Canyon del Oro High School graduate Catherine Borek and Karen Green. The film profiles high school students in Compton, Calif., as they stage the school's first theatrical production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town." For more information, visit the Web site at http://sideserttucson .org or call at 577-6944 .