By CINDY EISEN

Springboro Sun Editor

ceisen@tcnewsnet.com

Diva’s Day Out, presented by Hannah Treasure Chest, was a big winner, as 228 women attended this class event on one of the few sunny warm days of the early spring.

“Diva’s Day Out” Diva’s Day Out - Diva Las Vegas was held on Sunday, March 16, at the Presidential Banquet Center in Kettering. The event routinely provides about a third of the non-profit’s annual operating budget. This year the profits were more than last year, netting $13,000 for HTC.

Hannah’s Treasure Chest is a 501c3 corporation which deals in distribution of items “kids wear, use, or play with,” explains Angela Addington, founder and head of the corporation. Founded in 2001, Hannah’s Treasure Chest is a nonprofit organization which enriches the lives of children in need by providing clothing, furniture and toys.

The organization offers only children’s sizes in clothing, no junior sizes.

This year’s event offered four hours of fun for women, with a Diva’s boutique, silent auction, raffle, lunch, a fashion show, then bigger raffles for all who attended. Twenty-three female models from youth to middle age strutted the stage wearing the latest spring fashions.

Sponsors for the event included: The Forrester’s, The Berry Company, Centerville Coin and Jewelry Connection, and Allied Shipping and packaging Supplies Incorporated. The fashion show sponsors were: Hausfeld’s Salons and The Spa who did the hair designs on models in the fashion show and coordinated the runway show, with fashions by Envy XOXO at The Green, Joli Botique from Centerville, Posh baby, maternity, gifts from Centerville (was known as Ga Gas), and Hop Skip N’ Jump from Springboro which offers fine children’s clothing, christening and first communion dresses. Silent auction raffle and goodie bag donors included: Adventure Golf, BeautiControl- Julia Beach, Campbell Photography, Children’s Orchard- Settler’s Walk, Dairy Queen- Springboro, Deck the Walls, Domino’s Pizza, Elder Beerman, Explore More, Fifth Third, Graeter’s Ice Cream, and Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors-Lynn Fields, Sacred Grounds, Settler’s Walk Eye Care, Hand 2 Hand Acrobatic Training Center, Silpdad Designs Jewelry- Cindy Smallwood, Meadowlark, Paintbrush Pottery, YMCA of Greater Dayton.

The minimum cost to operate Hannah’s Treasure Chest, to “keep the doors open” as Addington says are $40,000 a year. It costs $2,500 a month in rent for their current location. Add on the utilities, phone, newsletter, web site, all items Addington cannot get grants for, and one can see why two to three fund raisers are needed per year. Private donations are accepted, but those are often earmarked for the Giving Angels, SOAR, or Beds for Babies programs.

The next event is a cornhole tournament. The Foresters presents the 2nd Annual Corn-Hole Tournament to benefit Hannah’s Treasure Chest on May 17. The event will be held at 3 pm at the VFW POST 9927 located at 3316 Wilmington Pike, Kettering in the back at the shelter. The location has changed this year but the fun has not! The fee is $40 for a two-person team. There will be a 60 percent pay out with a double elimination. Refreshments will be available (including adult beverages). For more info contact the tournament director, Phil Henry, at (937) 488-1012.

HTC also has a special relation with Children’s Orchard and Kids Again. When the clothes are sorted into piles at those ‘buy-back’ facilities, they put clothes they will not accept in a separate pile and ask if the owner wants to have those clothes donated to HTC. They even have the tax receipts right on site and once a week take deliveries to HTC’s location at 124 Westpark Road Centerville. For more information call 937-438-5039, email info@hannahstreasure.org or visit the website at www.hannahstreasure.org.