On Friday night I headed back to Willistown Township, where I grew up, to attend the Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania spring event at Radnor Hunt.
First was the cocktail hour, where everyone scanned the crowd for friends, chatted, ate chicken on skewers and vegetable dumplings and perused the dozens of silent auction items set out on tables. The silent auction was conducted online: you sent your bid via text message and were alerted when you were outbid. I heard some people grumbling that this was less personal than the old-fashioned clipboard method and led to people staring at their phone screens all night instead of mingling. I liked the system, though. And I found out that the man sitting next to me at dinner was the one who kept outbidding me on the Kinloch Woodworking mirror! (We were both outbid on it by an unknown third party; I was also outbid for a set of antique brass candlesticks and a family photo session.)
Then everyone lined up at the buffet table for dinner. I had salad, tomatoes and mozzarella, tortellini with a creamy pesto sauce, salmon, roasted vegetables, and bruschetta. For dessert there was a giant 100th-birthday cake with the Planned Parenthood logo on the top in blue.
After dinner Dayle Steinberg, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA, gave a rousing speech and Josh Katz of the Katz Foundation conducted the live auction of more high-ticket items. He was hilarious and quick-witted, bantering with the audience about, say, the true worth of some tickets to Philadelphia sporting events.
My host for the evening was Bob Burleigh, who was there with his wife Carol, his daughter Barb, her partner Amy, and their daughters. Bob described what it's like escorting patients past the confrontational protestors at the Planned Parenthood clinic in West Chester. He had high praise for a group of Unionville High School students who show up regularly to support the patients and marveled at the students' poise and calm demeanour in the tense, emotional atmosphere.
Our area was well represented at the event. I was happy to see my friends Art and Suzanne Schless and Eva Verplanck, all three longtime Planned Parenthood supporters. Sculptor Clayton Bright donated a tour of his West Marlborough home and studio as a silent auction item and it sold for $400 (he told me the real attraction was the lunch that his wife, Starr, was going to prepare for the guests!). Among the politicians present were retiring state representative Chris Ross, state senator Andy Dinniman, and West Chester mayor Carolyn Comitta (who is running for a seat in the General Assembly in Harrisburg to represent the 156th district).
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