CHARLOTTE — Organizers of the annual Human Rights Campaign’s North Carolina fundraising gala have decided to move the event back to Charlotte, qnotes learned today.
The event, last hosted in Charlotte in 2009, will return on Feb. 25, 2012. Aloft Hotel at Uptown’s Epicentre will serve as host hotel. In addition, Cherie Green, Rich Hurley and Dan Mauney have been announced as gala co-chairs.
“Each (of the 2012 co-chairs) are dynamic in their own right; together they are sure to bring the next level of awareness and excitement to the HRC North Carolina Gala,” Scott Bishop, state steering committee chair and member of the HRC Board of Governors, said in a release. “As a HRC Board member and friend to all three, I am thrilled that they have taken on the challenge.”
Green, a Bank of America employee, is an active member of the HRC North Carolina Steering Committee and HRC Board of Governors. Green served as HRC dinner co-chair in 2008 and has served as a member of several dinner committees. Her past philanthropic efforts include serving as a HRC dinner co-chair in 2008 as well as a member of several dinner committees.
Hurley, also a Bank of America employee, is a former HRC board member and has worked previously with other dinner committees.
Mauney, a self-employed retail consultant, currently serves on the board of Time Out Youth and has worked with a plethora of other organizations. He served as a dinner co-chair in 2007 and for 10 years organized and planned Gay Bingo, raising $700,000 for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN).
The North Carolina dinners return to Charlotte follows two years of hosting by the state’s capital city. Though in a bigger space, the Raleigh dinners in 2010 and 2011 experienced a decline in attendance. Past organizers have said the downturn in the economy played a key role.
Charlotte had hosted the dinner since 2005, when it attracted a record 1,300-plus crowd. In 2007, the dinner included more than 1,500 guests — the largest HRC fundraising dinner excluding the national dinner in Washington, D.C. The first HRC galas in the state were held in Greensboro in 1996 and 1997. The event then moved to Raleigh from 1998 through 2002. Greensboro hosted the dinners again in 2003 and 2004. : :
info: To learn more about the dinner or volunteer, email info@hrccarolina.org or visit hrccarolina.org.