The Catholic Charities annual gala took shape three decades ago
On Feb. 27, Catholic Charities of Oregon will hold its Celebration of Hope fundraising gala at the Oregon Convention Center. The roots of that venerable event were planted and nurtured more than three decades ago by a Portlander named Ann Teresi.
In the early 1990s, Portland Auxiliary Bishop Paul Waldschmidt asked to speak with Ann. The amiable assistant bishop, former president of the University of Portland, noted that Catholic Charities agencies around the nation held annual balls to raise funds, but there was nothing in Oregon. Would Ann, a U.P. alumna, please start one here?
Ann, who could not imagine refusing Bishop Waldschmidt, asked if there were a group with which she could work.
“You can figure that out,” Bishop Waldschmidt replied in a sunny way, supremely confident in her abilities.
She grew up Ann McLellan at The Madeleine Parish and Holy Child Academy in Northeast Portland. She recalls dances at all-girl Holy Child in which couples were required to make a visit to the chapel before heading to the dance floor.
After getting a communications degree at the University of Portland, she became a wife, a mother of two, a Portland realtor and reliable volunteer in the Catholic world. The spiritual home of her adulthood has been St. Michael the Archangel Parish downtown. Catholic Charities has been one focus of her Catholic social conscience.
“I think we didn’t really have a handle on just how powerful and fabulous Catholic Charities of Oregon really is,” Ann says, remembering the early 1990s. She observed that the wider Portland community knew precious little about the agency and its work.
At the time, Archbishop William Levada was remaking the board of directors of Catholic Charities, and Bishop Waldschmidt had recommended Ann for one of the posts. That year, she oversaw the behind-the-scenes kitchen crew at the annual Seminary Tea, and Bishop Waldschmidt called on her to come out of the kitchen to meet the archbishop. There she was, in apron and sneakers, greeting a regal man in cassock and cape.
Embarrassed, she nevertheless accepted the invitation to serve on the new board and create a fundraiser out of thin air.
Ruth Van Hoomissen, also a Catholic realtor, was at a party at Ann’s house at about this time. Ruth was discussing the unrealized potential of Catholic Charities.
Ann had a proposal: “Help me with this fundraiser.” Ruth agreed.
“A few days later we were in her kitchen, and we got out our rolodexes and we just talked and talked,” Ann recalls.
They considered every Catholic woman they knew and invited a group to a gathering at Ruth’s Portland Heights home.
“There was a fire in the fireplace and a really pretty buffet table,” Ann recalls.
After nibbles and conversation, the two women convened the guests and said something along these lines:
“We’ve gathered you for something very special. We are going to start a fundraiser.”
The idea flowed through the listeners, driven by love for the people Catholic Charities serves. At the end of the night, nine women volunteered for the committee. They called themselves Friends of Catholic Charities.
After months of phone calls, letters and visits, the first gala was ready in 1993.
John Elorriaga of U.S. Bank agreed to host the dinner in the elegant high-ceilinged lobby of the main downtown branch. About 100 people gathered for dinner and a speech by Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh, former president of the University of Notre Dame.
“It was really a very fun evening, though Father Hesburgh spoke a little longer than I preferred,” Ann recalls with a laugh.
The next year, committee member Elizabeth Bunce engineered an event at Portland Meadows in which money was raised as guests bet on horse races. The 388 guests donated a total of about $60,000.
Friends of Catholic Charities was a social association as well as a charitable group, and Ann holds fond memories. Barbie Brown hosted many gatherings at her house. Theresa Willett was also involved.
“It was just wonderful to have a place where Catholic women gathered and had fellowship,” Ann says. “To form those friendships was for me a real treasure.”
Friends of Catholic Charities also organized a St. Patrick’s Day bash each year in the 1990s. At the 1998 party, two widowed people met. By the 1999 event, they were wed.
As for the gala, it raised more funds as each year went by. In 2015, the tally topped $1 million.
“The people who joined were very committed. It was not hard to find people who did this or that,” Ann says. “It was such a joy to see what we had planned come together in a real deep way.”
Ann has fond memories but doesn’t make a big deal out of her role getting the benefit started.
She’s now a widow who cared for her sick husband. She plays mahjong with friends and hosts frequent house parties. She stays active at St. Michael.
Home is a South Waterfront apartment house that includes 43 subsidized units for formerly homeless veterans. She once had Deacon Chuck Amsberry, formerly of St. Michael, come to bless the building when matters got dicey.
She reads novels, biographies and cookbooks and loves to knit and make needlepoint.
She keeps in close touch with families and prays – oh how she prays — including for Catholic Charities. On top of her list now is success for the Feb. 27 gala, which has a Mardi Gras theme.