Mark your calendars. ACCESS Schools’ annual fundraiser Starry Starry Night has been rescheduled for March and a new October event planned in its place, with a new chair coordinating it.
Catherine M. Corless, an attorney at Little Rock’s Mitchell Williams law firm, is heading up The Big Easel, a new event set to bring together ACCESS’ parents and teachers in a setting that’s a little more intimate than usual. Unlike its predecessors, which have been held at larger venues in recent years, this one’s going to be on campus, hearkening back to the earlier days of Starry Starry Night’s 14-year history.
“Our major fundraiser started out on our campus as a smaller event,” said Becca Green, marketing and communications manager for ACCESS. “We wanted to bring our parents back to our campus and make it more of an event focusing on having them there.”
The new event, scheduled for October 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m., is going to feature live music, great food and a student artwork auction, all with an outdoor New Orleans theme. There will also be plants for sale, grown by ACCESS’ very own horticulture program, the day before The Big Easel and at the event.
“The primary goal is to have an event that is for everyone, but especially meaningful for our parents and teachers,” Green said. “It’s personal; it’s student artwork.”
The Mitchell Williams law firm’s work with charity does not stop with providing a volunteer chair. The firm started its Take Time to Give program (TakeTimeToGive.com) in 2004 for its 50th anniversary and has since sponsored over 150 charities, including the Pulaski County Humane Society, Philander Smith College, and the Junior League of Little Rock, just to name a few. After a few years of multiple donations, the firm decided in 2009 to focus its efforts and sponsor just one organization per year. This year, they’ve chosen to support ACCESS Schools, a Little Rock-based nonprofit school for children with learning disabilities.
So far, Mitchell Williams has not only helped with putting the ACCESS event together but also they’ve done volunteer landscaping for the ACCESS campus and given the inaugural $25,000 for the new 6,700-square-foot ACCESS Therapy Gym. “That gym will not only provide top-of-the-line equipment and facilities for the students that are there, but it will also open up two additional classrooms,” Green said.
As chair of The Big Easel event, Corless is working to raise funds, coordinate event details and communicate with donors. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in mathematics in 2000, she went to Vanderbilt University for her law degree. She’s been at Mitchell Williams for 2 years.
“(ACCESS) is just bursting with ideas,” she said. “My background is more functional and getting things set up and organized. I can take all of the really wonderful creative ideas and put them on paper.”
For ACCESS Schools, the new event is an inspiring way to bring together its community and raise the funds necessary for its survival. “We have a lot of long-time parents here. Many of them remember how fun Starry Starry Night was,” Green said. “I think that’s the most exciting thing—that it’s back on campus. People really enjoy seeing the campus and being out there.”
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Saturday, October 15
The Big Easel, 5:30-7 p.m., ACCESS Schools Campus.
Tickets: $35 per person.
Info: Callie Gutierrez, 217-8600.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Starry Starry Night, The Peabody Little Rock.
Tickets: $150 per person.
Info: Callie Gutierrez, 217-8600.