Black Tie & Tales

+ Like mother and father, like daughter
At age 15, Rebekah Leopold has already started a charity: Students Against Hunger at Riverview High School. In conjunction with the Warren Backpack Foundation, her goal is to provide weekend and holiday food to 100 Sarasota County kids who would otherwise go hungry on days when they have no school lunch. To do that, she has to raise $21,000.

According to her parents, Harry and Victoria Leopold, Rebekah came up with this idea on her own, after listening to them talk about the hunger problem with friends, Shannon and Robert Warren. The Warrens created the backpack program after discovering that more than 1,000 homeless and low-income Sarasota County children in kindergarten through third grade go hungry every weekend.

To contribute to Students Against Hunger, make the check payable to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation/Warren Backpack Riverview and send to Richard Jones, The Gulf Coast Community Foundation, 601 Tamiami Trail S., Venice, Fla., 34285. Any donation made by Oct. 30 will be matched by an amount equal to twice its value, resulting in three times as many kids being fed.

+ The beauty of aging is music to their ears
Moderator Stewart Stearns kicked off the panel discussion at the Beauty of Aging luncheon Thursday, Oct. 8, benefiting the Pines of Sarasota, with a Chinese proverb: “The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain.”

But panelist Gloria Moss kicked that one into oblivion, proudly announcing that she is dancing through life at age 85. That was music to the ears of the 120 or so guests, who also enjoyed a surprise (and pro-bono) performance by The Three Divas & a Harp accompanied by John Visser on piano.

The fourth and final luncheon in this series is set for Nov. 5. Teri Hansen will moderate, and Audrey Coleman, Alice Rau, Virginia Toulmin and Lillette Jenkins-Wisner will make up the panel. Tickets are $50. Call Becky Taylor at 955-6293.

+ What a great fit!
That’s been the consistent response since the recent announcement that Beth Bobb has joined Sarasota’s Saks Fifth Avenue as Marketing Director. Bobb has a background in marketing and communications in cities such as Orlando and Maitland as well as Sarasota — plus, her personal passion for fashion (she was named “best dressed” in high school) account for General Manager Sally Schule saying, “I thought she would complement what I have started for Saks in the community and expand our connections into business-to-business, hotels, conventions and tourism. And she reminds me of me when I began my retail career.”

+ BT tidbits
Living happily ever after … June LeBell and Edward Alley, who married May 1, in New York City, had a reception for Sarasota friends Oct. 4 on the stage at the Sarasota Opera House. Among the 150 or so guests: Harvey and Betsy Hinrichs, Ernie and Alisa Kretzmer, Susan Goldfarb, Gerry and Lee Dougherty Ross, Debbie and Tom Trimble, Jean Hubbard, Michelle Glglio and Susan Brainerd ... What am I to bid for Sonia and Sid?... The 10th annual CANDance benefiting Community AIDS Network’s Comprehensive Care Clinic is coming up Oct. 24. According to Co-Chairwomen Emily Walsh and Jackie Rogers, one of the auction items will be 10 lessons with dance instructors Sonia Regan and Sid Pocius and the opportunity to do a spotlight dance at next year’s event. If you want to go to this year’s, better hurry. It’s a hot ticket! Call 366-0461, Ext. 1060 … A big party for a little girl … Maddie Taylor celebrated her first birthday at grandma Marjorie Broughton’s house Oct. 10, with mom and dad, Nikki and Trevor Taylor, and 125 friends and family, a bounce house and some of the prettiest birthday cakes (plural) ever … What a kiss! … Scott Gerber paid $250 in the live auction to kiss wife and Co-Chairwoman Alex Miller at HSSC’s “Animal House” event. Jokingly Miller says, “Since he’s my husband, he should have paid three times as much!” …Lovely to look at ... How nice to see Eva Slane on the arm of Ed Buyes. Slane says, “Ed and I are good friends, and have been going to some things together. So you are likely to run into us again. I would not call it a romance.” Too bad. It would be a beaut!