S.H.E. Supports Local Women’s Causes with Multi-Media Gallery Event: Renowned Pastry Chef to Unveil New Confections at Fundraiser

Chicago, IL, June 04, 2009 --(PR.com)-- S.H.E. – Survive, Heal, Empower – will host a fundraiser for underserved women and female survivors at the Ven Sherrod Gallery, 1906. S. Halsted St., in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood at 6 p.m., Saturday, July 20. The event, which suggests a mere $5 donation for admission, will benefit Beyondmedia Education, an Illinois 501(c)3 non-profit, whose mission is to collaborate with under-served and under-represented women, youth, and communities.

S.H.E. will also help Edgewater Lounge’s David Butler launch a new foundation to help uninsured and underinsured women. The first beneficiary will be Judith Gordono, in need of a kidney transplant. Gordono, the wife of a Chicago chef, has survived multiple invasive medical procedures and is currently surviving with only 20 percent function of the one kidney she has. Like many in the bar and dining industry, Gordono is uninsured. The new foundation is being created through a collaboration of bar and restaurant owners and employees along with help from various Chicago based artists.

“We are encouraged by the enthusiasm shown for this cause,” said event organizer Valerie Kahan. “We also are pleased to support Beyondmedia Education, which has a stellar track record for helping underserved individuals and communities. They are a champion of social justice, creating media arts with people to tell their stories, stories that we need to hear to really know what is going on in our world.”

The evening will include the display, sale, and auction of original visual art, as well as theatre, music by various local musicians including Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan, who play at Chicago’s Green Mill on Wednesdays, as well as SHEBOOM, a touring female drumming band. Entertainment also will include a performance of The Rose Parade, an original documentary theatre piece based on interviews about women's stories of survival, created and performed by Boston University Fine Arts graduates Allison McGuire, Kira Silverstein, and Jenny Weiner.

Food and drink will be donated by some of Chicago’s most recognized chefs and restaurants including Dogfish Head, Chimay, Giles, and Three Floyds. Among the fare will be a new line of confections, “Sweet & Naro,” unveiled by pastry chef Elissa Narow, recognized for her work as the head pastry chef at some of Chicago’s finest restaurants, including Blackbird, Avec, Custom House, and Spring.

In conjunction with the performance, an on-site gallery will feature the artwork of Kahan and Tara Luther, inspired by the interviews, with additional visual elements, including streaming video installations by Salome Chasnoff, and photographs by Jesse Samuel Wheeler.

Contributions, raised through 50 percent of original artworks sales and 100 percent of proceeds of a silent auction, raffle, and donations, will be divided between Gordono’s pending kidney transplant and Beyondmedia Education.

For further information and reservations for The Rose Parade, contact Kahan at 773-616-8277 or vkahan@aol.com.

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