Toledo women of all ages will gather July 11 to attend Chicks Mix ’12, a night of mingling and fun.
Proceeds from the event benefit IBC Beat the Streets (International Boxing Club/Institute for Building Careers).
The event is put on by Chicks for Charity, a group that picks a new charity to support every two years.
Women and girls do all kinds of things to raise money during that time, from bake sales to card games, said Sue Hague-Rogers and Rita Mansour, “Chicks in Charge.”
“You have women there that have millions of dollars and you have little girls who have $20 that they’ve worked weeks for,” said Mansour, a partner at Thomas McDonald Partners and head of Mansour Wealth Management.
Martha Vetter, president of R-P Marketing Public Relations, started Chicks for Charity in 2006. Hague-Rogers and Mansour have been involved since then and what began as a group of 100 now has about 1,800 “chicks.”
“It brought the walls down for all those people who may just want to put their toe into it and contribute and feel good, whatever that means,” said Hague-Rogers, senior exhibit specialist for 2020 Exhibits, a local exhibit production company. “The whole idea that it didn’t matter how much you gave, it was really good. It was a spectrum of teaching little girls to adult women the art of giving,” Mansour said.
The group raised $65,000 for IBC in 2011. IBC provides free programming like boxing, sports, leadership training and homework help to give city youth an alternative to drugs and violence. The nonprofit recently collaborated with Beat the Streets, a national nonprofit that promotes wrestling as another alternative. It also recently moved to a new facility on Earlwood Avenue and expanded its services to include more girls.
The kids involved with IBC have continually impressed Mansour and Hague-Rogers.
“Their demeanor and how they greeted you, it was like ‘Wow’,” Mansour said.
Picking a new charity to support every two years is the hardest partfor Mansour and Hague-Rogers.
In the fall, the chicks will select 10 charities from several applicants before narrowing them down to three. A new charity will be named around December.
A charity’s involvement with Chicks for Charity provides more funds and increased visibility.
“A lot of these organizations are more grassroots and they don’t get the exposure,” Mansour said. R-P’s involvement with Chicks for Charity helps, she added.
“Martha and her team will never tell you this, but they put so many man hours, woman hours, chick hours, behind this,” she said.
At Chicks Mix ’12 several items will be up for auction and raffle. These include a one-week stay at a villa in Puerto Rico complete with free surfing lessons and a Chicago weekend with tickets to “Dreamgirls.”
A “College Chick” basket with university essentials is also available. IBC will also present while men tend the bar.
“You can take your daughter, niece, mom. I take my mom every year,” Hague-Rogers said. Six hundred women attended the event last year.
To learn more or join Chicks for Charity, visit www.chicksforcharity.net/become.html. Chicks Mix ’12 is 5:30-9 p.m. at the Toledo Botanical Garden, 5403 Elmer Drive. It costs $37 to attend for general admission and $20 for those 20 and younger.
Tickets are available at the door, although reservations are preferred. Call (419) 241-2221 or email ChicksForCharity@r-p.com for tickets.
To donate to IBC, visit http://www. ibcprograms.org/. Check donations are not made to Chicks for Charity, but directly to IBC. ✯
