Masquerade for Wesley House to be held Friday, Oct. 3
The masquerade ball, which will be Friday, Oct. 3, at Bridgewater Place Event Center, 205 Bridgewater Road, Knoxville, is “our signature annual fundraiser, and all the proceeds go to our programs,” said Beverly Holland, Wesley House senior director of advancement and donor engagement.
While the event starts at 6:30 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m., Holland said there will be a cocktail hour starting at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets to the event are $150 per person and a table of 10 is $1,300. They will be on sale until Tuesday, Sept. 30, by going on line to wesleyhouseknox.org/masqueradeball or wesleyhouseknox.org and go to its events tab.
The event will feature the crowning of queens and kings.
While historically, kings and queens were chosen by how much they raise, Holland said this year, king and queen nominees will be staff members, and the public can support one of those staff members.
“There are four staff members — Juanita Miller, Rev. Aaron Soloman, Sasha Holloway and Danarius Ross — who are going after kings and queens,” she said. “If they have a specific staff member they want to support, they will put that in the memo during the ticket sale.”
At the ball, “we will be crowning the king and queen,” Holland added.
Additionally, there will be a dinner and performances by WH’s dance team, Lyra Aerialists and stilt walkers and. Hosted by WATE-TV anchor Lori Tucker, there also will be dancing, a disc jockey, silent auction and competition for whomever has the best mask.
Attire is formal wear, black tie and masks, Holland said.
“Wesley House has been serving Knoxville since 1907,” she said. “It started with three women working in a mill while their husbands were at war and realized they didn’t have childcare,” she related. “They joined together to take care of each other’s kids.”
Since then, the organization has become a licensed childcare program currently with 86 children in the after-school program and a summer care program also.
Along with childcare, Wesley House also has a senior care program, which was started in 2013.
“We serve them weekly meals; they have social time together; and they play a lot of Bingo … for household items,” Holland said. “We also have different partners for that, like University of Tennessee, (and) Office of Social Work.”
Wesley House also has a food bank called the Red Bird Store.
“The thing we try to do at Wesley House is preserve people’s dignity,” she said. “The reason (it’s called Red Bird Store) is we don’t want the kids to call it a food bank. You don’t have to lose your pride and dignity to go to Wesley House.”
Several area churches support Wesley House in various ways.
“(The seniors) go to different churches in the area and the churches provide them with lunch and activities,” she said.
For instance, Concord United Methodist Church sponsors the Friends and Donors Breakfast and donates directly to Wesley House’s food pantry while First Farragut UMC’s UWF group support’s Wesley House’s senior citizen program by serving and sponsoring lunches and participates in WH’s Christmas in July.
“Concord United Methodist has partnered with Wesley House Community Center for over 35 years,” CUMC missions director Jane Currin said. “Years ago, we made repairs to the old Wesley House building, playground and to homes of seniors in the community. We helped to provide activities and meals for the children during their summer and holidays.
“In more recent years, we have focused on providing lunch and prizes for the Grannies several times a year when they visit Concord for their Friday outings,” she said. “For the last 11 years, we have delivered a meal and visited the Grannies on Martin Luther Kings Jr. Day.
“We shared fresh vegetables grown in our Concord Community Garden with the Grannies and with the Red Bird Store and Pantry housed at Wesley House. In addition, we donate canned and dry goods for pantry. In August, their pantry served over 8,000 persons.
“We have a few dry soup recipes that we make during (Vacation Bible School) and MLK Missions BLITZ that we share, along with the ingredients to make them into a meal,” Currin said. “The Tennessee taco soup is a local favorite.
“With the mix, they get a pound of ground beef plus a can of diced tomatoes, corn and black beans,” she added.
“The chicken and rice mix includes three cans of diced chicken plus an onion and two carrots, allowing the family to be able to make a meal when the arrive home from the pantry,” Currin said. “We have also supported the pantry with financial donations.”
Cokesbury UMC on Kingston Pike is “one of our biggest supporters, allowing us to host multiple events in their building,” Holland said. Additionally, “they contribute financially and provide in-kind donations for our food pantry and Thanksgiving basket project.”
Middlebrook Pike UMC “hosts events in their gym and supports us through their UWF group, providing snacks and lunch for both our seniors and Youth Development Program,” she said.
Bearden UMC’s youth ministry volunteers regularly, helping clean classrooms on weekends.
“They also contributed to our Christmas in July initiative this year,” Holland added.
