Angels celebrate at ball
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers HAVING A GOOD TIME FOR A WORTHY CAUSE- - Casa Pacifica Development and Operations director Vicky Murphy, left, listens to Casa Pacifica alumna Grace Stotts tell her success story during the Casa Pacifica Angels Ball at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks Feb. 23. Vicky enabled Grace to move forward in her life through communication and the caring environment provided at Casa Pacifica.

Shortly after Grace Stott was born, her mother walked out on the infant and her five siblings. Stott was put into foster care, where she spent most of the next 17 years in a cycle of drug abuse and running away from one group or foster home after another.

At 15, Stott came to live at Casa Pacifica, a residential treatment facility in Camarillo for abused, neglected and emotionally disturbed children. Although she was still troubled, things slowly began to turn around for the teenager when she took a cooking class taught by Vicky Murphy.

Murphy, a volunteer at the time, would listen to Stott talk about her problems and hold the teenager when she cried.

Stott went on to graduate from high school and settled in the San Francisco area. She now works and attends college full time.

With Murphy at her side, Stott told her story to a packed room at Casa Pacifica's 19th annual Angels Ball at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks on Saturday.

"The help I received from Casa Pacifica made all the difference," said Stott, now 23.

Casa Pacifica operates a number of therapeutic programs for children up to 18 years old and their families at its Camarillo campus and through communitybased programs for at-risk youth and their families in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

It costs $23 million a year to operate the largest nonprofit provider of children's mental health services in two counties. Government funds provide the lion's share of the budget, but the nonprofit, which serves more than 400 children and 300 families every day, has to raise $2.3 million every year in private donations to fill the gap.

Casa Pacfica spokesperson Carrie Hughes said she expects the Feb. 23 ball to net the nonprofit $193,000. Last year, Casa Pacifica Angels, the auxiliary group of about 350 volunteers who put on the annual event, raised $175,000.

The night event included dinner, dancing and live entertainment. But the most unexpected moment of the evening came after Tony and Mary Tesoro of Thousand Oaks successfully bid $10,000 at the live auction for an 18-inch pearl necklace, the Strand of Hope, and then gave it to Stott.

Casa Pacifica alumni and Angels volunteers had handpicked the multicolored pearls for the Strand of Hope to symbolize the hope and help Casa Pacifica is dedicated to bringing children and their families.

Stunned into silence for a moment, Stott said, "I'm going to wear it every day."

For more information on Casa Pacifica, call (805) 445-7800.