LAKE COUNTY — A fund to benefit the Lake Family Resource Center”s (LFRC) project to build a domestic violence shelter was set up to memorialize Barbara LaForge by area artist and gallery owner Gail Salituri.
LaForge was murdered inside her business, Wildwood Frame Shop and Inspirations Gallery on Main Street in Lakeport on Oct. 8, 2002. She was 43-years-old.
“It”s never too late to be remembered,” Salituri said, who was a long-time friend of LaForge. One-hundred percent of funds raised will go to benefit the shelter.
“What a better way to remember a victim of a violent crime, than to help another victim ? this is something Barbara would have done for me. Also, helping someone in distress is very close to my heart,” Salituri said.
To launch the fund, this month and next a silent auction will feature an original, framed oil painting by Salituri titled “Lake County Hills Spring Bloom” valued at $475. Opening the bid at $85, Salituri said so far several bids have been placed. The piece was painted last month and features property in Upper Lake where the Passion Play takes place
each year.
Also to benefit the fund, up for raffle is a John Clarke Lithograph of the Golden Gate Bridge, donated by Clarke and custom framed by Inspirations Gallery. The piece by the Kelseyville artist is valued at $400. It is hand signed and numbered. The two pieces of artwork will go to the winning bidder and ticket holder, respectively, June 1. Winners will be notified via phone. Then, Salituri will open bids for another silent auction and raffle.
“This is ongoing event, every two months we”re changing donated art pieces, and we”ll continue through the end of the year,” Salituri said.
To generate interest and recruit artists to donate pieces to the fund, Salituri and supporters plan to introduce the fund at the Lake County Arts Council Friday Night Fling, a social gathering at the downtown gallery this Friday.
The LFRC 28-bed domestic violence shelter will be located in Kelseyville just off Highway 29. Serving the county, it will include a child development center, classrooms, meeting rooms, family services and living facilities for families and women seeking safety from domestic violence.
LFRC”s Freedom House ? the only shelter in the county, has provided shelter to an average of more than 10 women and children each night for the past year ? more than 3,900 beds were needed during that time.
In February, a Wine and Chocolate fundraiser brought in $20,000 for the estimated $3 million shelter. LCFC expects to hear at the end of the week whether it will receive an emergency housing assistance program grant of $950,000, according to LFRC Executive Director Gloria Flaherty.
The shelter also recently received $1,000 from Lakeport Rotary, a $1-per-year property lease for the future shelter”s location from Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Kelseyville Lumber will donate building materials, and a quilt show and sale Sunday from 2-5 p.m. at the Sutter Lakeside Hospital Wellness tent will benefit the shelter.
“These are incredible gestures by community members ? every government program whether it is a grant or a loan requires us to demonstrate community support. Our hope is to raise at least a third of the money locally. Things like Gail Salituri”s Barbara LaForge Memorial Fund and the quilt show that is coming up will be so valuable to us to demonstrate community support. For us, there”s nothing better than that,” Flaherty said.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
To donate directly to LCRC”s fund, make checks payable to Lake FRC building fund at the Umpqua Bank.
Tickets are available at Inspirations Gallery, 165 N. Main Street, Lakeport and Lake Family Resource Center, 896 Lakeport Boulevard, Lakeport.
