$165,000 Raised for Speech, Hearing Center

The Scene

More than 500 supporters of the Providence Speech and Hearing Center strolled under a double arch of pink and black balloons and into a ballroom at the Anaheim Marriott hotel Saturday for cocktails, dinner and dancing. The $250-per-person benefit raised about $165,000, which will be used for operational expenses, said Executive Director O.T. Kenworthy.

The Cause

Located in the city of Orange, the nonprofit center provides diagnostic testing and therapy for an estimated 5,800 speech- or hearing-impaired clients a year. About 250 clients receive ongoing speech pathology or audiology treatment, according to Kenworthy. “Our biggest problem is that we provide the services, and then we have to wait a long while to get our money from the insurance companies or state agencies,” he said. “It’s not unusual for a bill to go eight or nine months before it’s paid. . . . But we don’t turn anybody away. Anybody who can’t communicate--how can you turn them away?”

Stars of the Show

Everybody wanted to talk with Margaret Anne Inman, the tiny, bespectacled bundle of energy who founded the center in 1966. Arriving 45 minutes after the start of cocktail hour, Inman was immediately surrounded by her longtime friends and admirers. Also drawing a significant share of attention was honoree Katarina Matesevac, a 24-year-old Providence alumnae who at 15 months old had become Inman’s second client. The shy Katarina--a graduate of El Modena High School in Orange--stuck close to her mom, Anne Matesevac, her sister Celeste and brothers Ivan and Joseph. Anne Matesevac recalled that when Inman “took Katarina under her wings, everybody told her, ‘Forget it. You’re wasting your time.’ But she didn’t listen. She knew she could help my daughter.”

The Program

After hosted cocktails and silent auction bidding, guests headed into the dining room for a dinner of beef broth en croute, salad with white asparagus, filet mignon with bearnaise sauce and lobster tail. Following blackberry sponge cake with vanilla sauce and raspberry liqueur, comedian Danny Gans and the Jeff Enloe Orchestra entertained.

Who Was There

George DeHuff chaired a dinner committee that included John Ricci Jr., Steve Howard, John Word, Fifi Chao, Doris Weaver, Robert Diamond, William Reilly, Mell Kilpatrick and Joseph Maioriello.

Among other guests were Margaret and Carl Karcher, Mary and Peter Muth, Helga and Robert Pralle, Tamara and Bruce Achauer and renown ear surgeon Dr. Howard House.

Quote

In normal business practices, you can’t spend more money than you have,” said Peter Muth, who with Robert Pralle challenged the board of directors in May to raise $125,000. (By August, the board had raised its share, which was then matched by both Muth and Pralle--for a total of $375,000.) “But you have to remember we are helping children, so we go overboard. When there’s a kid out there who needs help, we throw caution to the wind.”