BERLIN – A nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women and families will host its annual Benefit Gala at the Ocean City Convention Center next month.
Lisa Wilgus, executive director of the Shirley Grace Pregnancy Center (SGPC), said the sixth annual Benefit Gala will help the organization fund the many services it provides each year.
In 2016, more than 1,000 men and women utilized SGPC’s services, including post-abortion, adoption and addiction counseling, ultrasounds, pregnancy testing and the like. The fundraiser, she said, is for the sole purpose of supporting the aforementioned programs and the community that uses them.
“This fundraiser is the main fundraiser that brings in the most resources,” Wilgus said.
Since SGPC’s first fundraiser in 2012, the Benefit Gala has grown from 175 attendees to 500, and the former banquet space they initially used at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel soon became too small.
The gala’s ever-growing success, Wilgus explained, reflects the pregnancy center’s ongoing outreach efforts, which includes connecting with other organizations and health departments and providing support groups to mothers, fathers and those struggling with addiction.
“I feel that this is the year we have made tremendous strides in growing the community,” she said. “The key is rubbing skin-to-skin with people in the community. You have to be willing to put yourself in front of people.”
The Benefit Gala, Wilgus said, gives officials with SGPC and their clients the opportunity to showcase the nonprofit’s resources and to reach out to the community for support.
The Gala Benefit will take place April 8 at the Convention Center. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30. A program featuring clients and their stories will follow at 7.
Artist David Garibaldi, who performed on America’s Got Talent in 2012, will also be at the Gala, where he will paint three pieces of art that will be auctioned off at the end of the evening.
“He is something else if you haven’t seen him,” SGPC’s Kay Windsor said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Wilgus added that a call to action and sponsorship opportunities will be available at the Gala, but said a monetary investment in SGPC is not needed to attend the event.
“We want to make an investment in their life,” she said. “If it touched them or they take it and share it with people we haven’t connected with, it’s a win-win.”
For more information on the annual Gala Benefit and SGPC, or to attend the event, visit sgpcenter.com and click on the “Events” page or call (443) 513-4124.
