Casa Teresa Supporters Go Western

It ain’t broke, so they don’t fix it.

As they have for the past three years, the Guilds of Casa Teresa rustled up some 300 supporters at $75 a pop for a Western-themed fund-raiser Saturday in South Coast Plaza’s Jewel Court.

This year’s “Casino de Casa” benefit netted an estimated $30,000 for the privately funded Orange facility, which provides temporary shelter and counseling for pregnant single women between the ages of 18 and 25. Casa Teresa can accommodate 20 young women at a time, according to program coordinator Sister Ellen, and is “always full, always has a waiting list,” she said.

Guests arrived at the shopping mall dressed in jeans and Stetsons, skirts and boots, bandannas and big-buckled belts.

After checking in beside a stand of giant cacti, they moseyed along a line of silent auction tables, noshing spicy beef empanitas, barbecued chicken-on-a-stick and corn muffins stuffed with smoked turkey. Cowpokes never had it so good.

Then it was down the escalator (ride ‘em!) to the gaming tables, the bandstand and much-ignored dance floor, and buffet tables loaded with Southwesternish standards (taco fixings, chiles rellenos, baby back ribs) and innovations (tequila lime-cured gravad lax of salmon, for instance).

Among the first and the evening’s few dancers were Ken and Dianne Schautschick of Fountain Valley, in-laws of event chairwoman Merrill Plou.

Also seen Texas two-stepping were Lynne and Peter Tremble, who accessorized their duds with playing cards tucked into their belts and pockets and hatbands. Peter also sported dice cuff links and dress studs, a shark’s tooth dangling on his gold watch chain and an ace in his vest pocket.

Doug Hand bellied up to a blackjack table with a .357 Magnum holstered on his hip “for quick draw,” he said, setting his (cartridge-less) weapon on the table by his cards.

Where another man might wear a gun, Rich Goodman sported a red bandanna. “I got shot in the leg coming in,” he said, joking about the kerchief tied around his thigh.

Goodman, president of the Orange County chapter of the American Jewish Committee, called himself “pro-choice” in matters of childbirth and abortion. But he said he supports the mission of Casa Teresa to assist young, often homeless mothers who have chosen to carry their babies to term.

“As a pro-choice person, I believe that one of the choices should be having children,” he said.