![Project Safeguard's <B>Barbara Ezyk,</B> left, <B>Carolyn Washburn</B> and <B>Sherry Donovan</B> weren't about to run out of raffle tickets. <!--IPTC: [CUT1]Project Safeguard board members Barbara Ezyk, left, Carolyn Washburn and Sherry Donovan weren’t about to run out of raffle tickets. [CREDIT]Photo by Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post-->](/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20100218__20100221_E17_FE21DAVIDSONp1.jpg "20100218__20100221_E17_FE21DAVIDSON~p1.JPG")
February is Heart Month, and here’s how some of your friends, and mine, are showing the love:
• Four 20-somethings whose parents are leaders in the American Heart Association have stepped up their own commitment to good heart health by starting Young Hearts. Their first public show of support will come Saturday when they — and a bunch of their friends — attend the Denver Heart Ball.
The idea for Young Hearts has been simmering for four years but didn’t become a reality until Quinn Washington, Chelsey Russell, Courtney Lake and Nicole Hewett were recruited to lead it.
Washington is the son of pediatric cardiologist Reginald Washington, a past national president of the AHA. His mother, Faye, was a founding member of the Hearts for Life Guild and, with her husband, chaired a previous Denver Heart Ball. Nicole Hewett’s mom, Maureen O’Hare, co-chairs the AHA’s Denver Metro board. Courtney Lake’s mother, Sue Lake, and Chelsey Russell’s mother, Tricia Hood, also are leaders in the local AHA.
Charlie and Patti Nelson (he’s president of Great-West Retirement Services) are chairing the ball, which begins at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center. Dance music is by the Heartbeats, the same band that played for Chelsey and Ben Russell’s wedding in 2008. More information: .
• Project Safeguard did very well with its Feb. 13 Valentine’s Fling, according to community relations director Bill Donovan. There were 300-plus guests, and while a final figure is yet to be determined, Donovan says it’s going to be a record-setter. Since 1981, Project Safeguard has helped victims of domestic violence by providing legal, crisis and assistance services.
• On Thursday, the Westin Tabor Center hosts the party where the Denver Center Alliance thanks sponsors and patron-level ticketholders for its signature fundraiser, Saturday Night Alive. The 30th SNA, starring Motown legend Smokey Robinson, doesn’t take place till March 6 but has been a sell-out since October, according to chaircouple Stan and Sarah Sena. Patron party guests also can get a head start on the auction bidding; items will include a 22-carat diamond bracelet (value: $60,000) donated by Trice Jewelers and a trip to Chicago to visit the “Oprah” set.
• CBS 4’s Molly Hughes and her husband, Atlas Medical president John Butler, are again honorary chairpersons for a fundraiser for “the bare necessities” needed by pregnant and parenting teens served by Bridgeway. Bridgeway to Hope begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Pinehurst Country Club with Promise Band and a live auction called by Gary Corbett. KOSI morning personality Murphy Huston is the emcee. Call 303-969-0515 or go to .
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and GetItWrite on Twitter
