Star Staff Reports
The 19th annual Sparkling Nights Auction, Wine and Food Tasting hosted by SRVS will feature a legacy tribute to Dorothy Wilson, a co-founder of SRVS and wife of Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson. The event will take place at a new location this year, the University of Memphis Holiday Inn, from 7:00 pm to 11:30 pm on August 19. Wilson, 1970s National Mother of the Year, helped lead the way in establishing SRVS. In 1962, determined to find work for people with disabilities, she chaired a House-to-House Campaign, mobilizing 6000 mothers to march door-to-door paving the way for the city’s first Sheltered Occupational Shop, SRVS’ founding program. Fifty-five years later, SRVS has grown to become the leading and largest comprehensive service provider in Tennessee supporting more than 1500 people from birth throughout life. This year’s event features guest artist Joey Evangelist, a Memphis artist with autism whose artwork has been exhibited in Memphis, a silent and live auction, wine tastings from wineries around the world, appetizers from Memphis restaurants, performance groups and dancing with DJ Eddie Kivelle. Proceeds from the event will benefit SRVS. The silent auction is a HandBid application. Guests are encouraged to bring their cell phones to bid. Individual tickets are $100 in advance; $110 at the door. Tables of eight are $1,000 with limited availability. To purchase tickets, visit www.srvs.org.
SRVS is Tennessee’s largest provider of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, providing employment, residential, family support, community based and children’s services and other supports to more than 1,500 individuals. Founded in 1962, SRVS is a United Way of the Mid-South agency and the “Family Answer for Disabilities.”
