More than $100,000 was raised by the Los Alamitos Education Foundation at its King & Queen of Hearts Ball held over the weekend. The total represents more than a twofold increase over last year’s event.
The Foundation crowned the winners of the second annual King & Queen of Hearts Ball on Feb. 20 at the Grand Event Center in Long Beach. The Royal Court candidates – Dr. Jeff Barke, Jim Klisanin, Tom Lent, Chief Joe Stillinovich, Annie Allen, Shelley Hasselbrink, Tina Heeren and Coralie Prince concluded a 10-week fundraising campaign, which culminated in the Ball.
Fundraising totals were shared at the end of the night, with a combined total of more than $110,000 plus an additional $15,000 of in- kind donations. The crowned Queen and King, Tina Heeren and Tom Lent collected the most money. Both candidates accepted the challenge and the crown with grace and panache. This year’s audience increased from about 80 people in 2014 to well over 180 attendees.
Carrie Logue, the executive director of the Foundation said, “We are thrilled with and have the deepest respect and gratitude for all of our candidates. In this second year, we asked these brave partners to continue on with our new tradition, and they responded! As far as we are concerned, every one of them is a king or queen for education and our mission.” The event was a see-and-be-seen event with press, corporate sponsors and school officials and supporters.The Coronation Ball gala, was in part sponsored by: Southland Credit Union, mac-fusion, the City of Seal Beach, Edward Jones: Sean Payne, Friday Night Lights, Northwestern Mutual, Meadowbrook Realty, Long Beach, INCO Commercial, Rachlin Partners, First Team – Randy Hill, Old Ranch Country Club, Beach Studio Salon, Nova Wurks, The Swinerton Foundation, The Youth Center, Los Alamitos Eye Care, Print-n-Copy, The Grand Event Center, Hennessey’s Tavern, BNSF Railway, West Coast Air, Long Beach Heating & Air conditioning, the Sun Newspapers and News- Enterprise.
Centerpieces were generously provided by student artists and were in and of themselves auction items. With a pianist, live painting artist, and dessert donated by Great Dane bakery, the event made for a busy evening. It also included live and silent auctions, and featured a fabulous three-course duet dinner.
Randy Hill, president of LAEF said, “These outstanding men and women are not only heroes of education, they are all royalty for working so hard to raise funds for our school district. We are incredibly proud of each of them. Special congratulations to Queen Tina and King Tom for their triumph. At the end of the night and each event, it is really all about the kids and building resources to help every child in the district have access to the 4 A’s: Academics, Athletics, Activities and the Arts.”
As Dr. Andrew Pulver, the MC for the event said, “This event set a new standard for our district, and we are so supportive of LAEF and all the candidates. Congratulations again to all those who participated. It was a team effort lead by teams of board members, staff, the candidate’s teams and so many others.”
