Red Cross Spirit Awards Saturday:

Kitty Dukakis, Crocker to be honored, Orson Bean and Alley Mills to hostThe Santa Monica Red Cross 2006 Spirit Awards on Saturday, February 11, at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel will feature dinner, dancing, entertainment, an auction and a screening, as well as the award presentation. The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a reception and silent auction of hundreds of items, including clothing, trips, collectibles, art, dinners, tickets to Southern California attractions, sports, entertainment memorabilia and even Red Hot Chilly Pepper Flea’s guitar. The dinner and the show begin at 7:30 p.m. Comedian Orson Bean and his actress wife Alley Mills will be master and mistress of Ceremonies. Music during dinner will be performed by jazz singer and pianist Walter Barrilueaux, who was displaced from his New Orleans home by Katrina, sought services at the Santa Monica Red Cross and now lives and performs here. The American Red Cross of Santa Monica’s 2006 Spirit Awards honor extraordinary commitments to service. This year’s honorees include Kitty Dukakis, in recognition of her international humanitarian work, as well as her work on behalf of youth and youth empowerment.A posthumous Spirit Award will be made to Santa Monica Red Cross volunteer and Santa Monica Police officer and USMC Reservist, Major Ricardo Antonio “Rick” Crocker who was killed in action in Al-Anbar province of Iraq last May.Members of Crocker’s USMC unit based at Camp Pendleton and some of his fellow Santa Monica Police officers will attend the event.In addition, two Santa Monica companies – Lions Gate Entertainment and Activision, Inc. – will receive Spirit Awards for their philanthropic support of the chapter and hurricane disaster relief efforts. A clip from a new documentary filmed in Santa Monica and throughout the South, covering the work of local volunteers who took part in the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disaster relief efforts will be shown. Hosting the screening will be actor/ writer/director Charles Haid who conceived and shot the film. After taking the requisite disaster training here in early September, Haid and his crew shot 70 hours of HD tape in the disaster areas in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, as well as here in Santa Monica. The footage will be used in a series of TV programs sponsored in association with the American Red Cross. The Tom Nolan Band will play for music for after-dinner dancing. Tickets are $150 each, with a table of ten selling for $1500. For tickets and information, call The American Red Cross of Santa Monica, 1450 11th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Phone (310) 394-3773 or fax (310) 451-3226 during normal business hours, or go to www.redcrossofsantamonica.org for information and to order tickets. All proceeds from the 2006 Spirit Awards will benefit the American Red Cross of Santa Monica which is a publicly supported, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.