The Treutlen House will be holding a dinner theater fundraiser Oct. 30 at New Ebenezer Retreat Center.
The event will be catered by a chef from the Mansion on Forsyth or the Bohemian, and entertainment will be performed by Hannah Dasher and Leon Jacobs.
“It’s almost a year anniversary since we had the emergency meeting,” said Mose Mock, chairman of the Treutlen House board of directors, “and we didn’t even know if we could keep it open. So in my mind, this is a celebration that the community has responded, and we’re not having a panic meeting, we’re having a fun evening.”
The board of directors asked the Kessler Collection, the hotel chain founded by Effingham County native Richard Kessler, to provide chefs “to come up with something real creative and fun,” Mock said. “I don’t even know what the menu is they’re going to surprise us.”
He said the meal will be wonderful and if someone were to go to the Bohemian or Mansion to eat, it would cost $40 or $50 a person.
Mock said the group wanted to make sure there was good entertainment for the event. He said Effingham loves Jacobs, and the
community “went crazy” over the Savannah Theater’s Patsy Cline show, with Dasher performing as the late country music legend. Dasher will perform dressed as Cline for the fundraiser. Tickets for the Savannah Theater’s Patsy Cline show were $35.
“I’m sure it will be an amazing show,” Mock said. “I totaled it it’s right at a $175 value for a couple, and you get it for $100,” he said. “It’s $50 a person, and every penny of it will go to the Treutlen House.”
Mock said they are hoping to have a good silent auction as well and are looking for donations for the auction that are unique.
“(We) already have a champagne carriage ride for two,” he said.
The fundraiser will be held at the New Ebenezer Retreat Center, so people who want to attend will not have to leave the county for a nice romantic evening in a beautiful setting.
Mock said the room can hold up to 200, and he hopes that 200 tickets will be sold to help them finish the fundraising effort for the year.
“At the first of the year we said we needed $100,000 — we haven’t gone like we did last year and said, ‘please, we’re in trouble,’” he said. “This year, we’re trying to be very proactive.”
He said this year’s fundraisers have included a gospel sing, Treutlen House Sunday and the annual golf tournament. He said the board wanted to try a dinner theater this year.
“It gives the people a chance to give, but they also get something in return,” Mock said.
Mock said that during the last year the board has cut expenses greatly. The home’s largest expense is labor, and the number of staff members is regulated by the state.
He said there have been seven to nine boys in the home a majority of the time.
“We’re seeing a trend toward older children,” he said. “Therefore it creates a big, big challenge. Those older boys come in with so many issues. Bless their hearts, some of them have been in so many foster homes; we had one child who had been in over 40 or 50 places.”
