458 PROJECT HELP SPONORS SECOND ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

Dinner, Live Music and Silent Auction Highlights of July 13 Benefit Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 6, 2006
CONTACT: Debbie Bauder, 615-898-


(MURFREESBORO)—More than 300 people are expected to attend this year’s
"Growing Young Minds," a dinner/live music/silent auction fundraiser to benefit Project HELP (Help Educate Little People), which will take place July 13 in the Tennessee Room of MTSU’s James Union Building.
Debbie Bauder, director of Project HELP, said event activities will get under way beginning at 6:15 p.m. with event registration. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. and live music by the Boomers, a blues/rock outfit, will follow at 7:30 p.m. Silent auction bidding will close at 8:15 p.m. and auction checkout will be at 8:30 p.m.
Last year’s fundraiser collected $18,000, said Bauder, who hopes community support for this year’s “Growing Young Minds” benefit will be just as strong.
Founded in 1983, the nonprofit Project HELP provides early intervention and family support services to high-risk children, children with disabilities and children with developmental delays.
Bauder said that the center’s staff, which includes more than 200 student volunteers per semester, strives to empower parents through a Family Support program, which includes workshops, counseling and other supports.
Funding for Project HELP is partially provided through grants from the State of Tennessee Division of Mental Retardation Services and the United Way of Rutherford County, as well as a contract with Tennessee Early Intervention Systems. However, Bauder said, the Charity Circle of Rutherford County is a major contributor to Project HELP, providing the center with much-needed equipment, toys and consumable items.
Although the center’s staff members are grateful for the ongoing support they receive for funding, additional money is needed to help meet the organization’s child-centered mission, Bauder explained, and activities such as the “Growing Young Minds” benefit also help.
Courtney Marler, a Project HELP parent, said, “There are numerous parents and volunteers working vigorously to ensure that this year’s fundraiser is even more successful than the last.
“I hope that we have a wonderful turnout from the entire community in general, but particularly from the medical community,” she continued. “Our pediatricians are in a position to monitor and identify developmental concerns

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early on in a child’s life. They can make referrals for early intervention services, such as Project HELP, that can have such an incredible impact during those crucial formative years, from birth to age 3.”
Regarding how the money raised will be used, “We are working
toward establishing a satellite classroom of Project HELP in the Smyrna
area,” Bauder said, “(because) those families from Smyrna and La Vergne must travel down to Murfreesboro four days a week to attend Project HELP.”
As for silent auction, “Good deals abound,” reported Bauder, who adds that among the items up for bidding are Harley-Davidson riding jackets, Sloan's Motorcycle/ATV-donated jackets, weekend getaways, commissioned oil paintings, massages, hand-crafted furniture and much more.
“This year, one of the most important silent auction items is the Project
HELP Family Quilt,” Bauder observed. “Each family involved in Project HELP took a square and decorated it in a way that is special to their family. Kara Daniello and Kelly Durcholz, teachers at Project HELP, then put them together to make a large quilt.
“We hope that this will bring top-dollar and be displayed in
the waiting area of a pediatrician's office from whom we receive so many
referrals,” she added.
TICKETS: Individual tickets are $50 each; table sponsorships (eight tickets) are $400. Tickets for the benefit, which has a casual/dressy code of attire, are available by calling the center at 615-898-2458.
For more information about Project HELP, including its parenting tips, preservice training, early intervention or family support programs, please access its Web site at http://www.mtsu.edu/~projhelp/.



• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request an interview with Project HELP staff or parents, please contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-2919.