BOONE — Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina is thrilled to welcome internationally recognized trauma-informed care expert and survivor Tonier Cain as the guest speaker for its 40th anniversary Hope Luncheon. Taking place at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 16, lakeside at the award-winning Chetola Resort, individual tickets are $40 to attend or a table of eight may be purchased for $400. This is the agency’s largest annual fundraiser, and guests will be encouraged to give generously to reach their goal of $100,000.
Asking Tonier Cain to speak at the annual luncheon wasn’t just happenstance. Both executive director Tina B. Krause and chief development director Todd Carter were so profoundly impacted by Ms. Cain when she spoke at the 2016 State of the Child conference at Boone United Methodist Church that they immediately went to work changing the way Hospitality House operated and administered its programs and services. That conference set the tone for what would become WCCI, the Watauga Compassionate Community Initiative.
“I distinctly remember when Tonier uttered the phrase “where there is breath, there is hope” as she took the stage at the conference,” states Carter. “At the end of Tonier sharing her harrowing, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting and inspiring story, I sat in the church pew sobbing, not in sadness, but because I had been deeply changed as a human being.”
The luncheon, presented by Chetola Resort & Spa and sponsored by Allen Wealth Management, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Ashemont Title and Mast General store, will include a wine social and the opportunity to view and bid on forty premier items that make up the online auction component of the event. The highlight of the afternoon will be guest speaker Tonier Cain who will take guests on her personal journey through 83 arrests, 66 convictions, and 19 years of homelessness, drug addiction, incarceration, and trauma. She will share how it all changed when someone asked her one simple question.
Later that evening at Timberlake’s Restaurant at Chetola, a limited number of tickets are being offered at $400 each for a private dinner with Cain and will be joined by Krause and Carter.
Adds Krause, “We knew we had to ask Tonier if she would be willing to speak at such a milestone year for the agency. Her powerful story and advocacy cuts deep to the heart of what we do and the people that we serve. She has had such an impact on us these past eight years and we are so happy that she said ‘yes’.”
Individual, table and private dinner tickets may be purchased online: hosphouse.org/hope. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available and can be accessed at the same link.
Individuals who are unable to attend but would like to celebrate 40 years of hope can donate online at hosphouse.org/hope or mail a check w/ “hope 40” in the memo line, to Hospitality House of Northwest N.C. c/o Todd Carter P.O. Box 309 Boone, NC 28607
Anyone inquiring about the auction and luncheon or in need of additional information is encouraged to email Carter at todd@hosphouse.org or Lexi White at lexi@hosphouse.org. For the latest updates and to learn more visit www.HospHouse.org and follow them on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok: @hosphouse and X @HospHouseNWNC.
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