The Center hosts its annual gala on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Marriott Hotel & Marina to honor GLBT community accomplishments over the past year and celebrate the successes to come.

“The Center’s annual gala remains a signature event and an important tradition for our community,” said Dr. Delores A. Jacobs, chief executive officer of The Center.

This year, the gala’s theme echoes The Center’s overall theme: “Pride, Power, Progress.”

“The Center is always working to ensure that our community takes pride in itself and our collective accomplishments,” said Shawn Ingram, The Center’s director of development. “Power represents the ability of our community to makes its voice heard and stand together on important issues. Progress is, of course, our commitment to move forward as a community and as individuals to obtain equal civil rights for all.”

The evening includes a cocktail reception, silent auction, dinner, awards and dancing.

“By popular demand, we have the amazing Haute Chile returning to entertain our guests. They played last year’s event and our guests enjoyed dancing the night away,” Ingram said.

Seven awardees, consisting of local volunteers, community organizations and businesses, will be honored at the event for their generosity, commitment and service to the GLBT community.

“The awards presented by The Center represent the diversity and accomplishment of members of the LGBT and allied communities,” Ingram said. “Our first award was the Jess Jessop Award. In naming the award after Jess Jessop, The Center was honoring his lifetime history of support to the community and the establishment of The Center. The other awards have grown out of this example. Our most recent award is the Ordinary Miracles Award. It was established in 2003 during the last ‘official’ year of Ordinary Miracles [a San Diego charitable organization], and recognizes a community member whose outstanding contributions make an enormous difference in our community.”

Center volunteer Maxine Lynch receives the M. Corrine Mackey Award, which was created in 1994 in honor of Center volunteer and community activist Corinne “Martie” Mackey. Lynch began volunteering for bingo at The Center more than three years ago, and recently became the volunteer manager of the Tuesday night event. In September, Center bingo held a benefit for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and raised more than $2,000 for the American Red Cross.

“I am very proud of the Hurricane Katrina benefit. It took a lot of work and was a successful one-time event,” Lynch said. “But I am most proud of the day-to-day changes I have been able to make at Center bingo. I think I have incorporated changes that make bingo at The Center more professional, which ultimately makes it more successful for The Center and adds more games and fun for participants.”

Center volunteer Miguel Criado will be honored this year with the Dennis Howard Award named after Center and community volunteer Dennis Howard in 1999. Criado is the artist responsible for the visual focal point of The Center’s Latino/a Services space – a mural that served as the inspiration for the Latino/a Services Program logo and used in all of the program’s materials. Criado also volunteers at least 20 hours a week with the program, and is part of The Center’s Digital Storytelling Project.

Dr. Jennifer Tuteur receives the Renee E. Richetts Lesbian Health Award for her leadership in the area of lesbian health advocacy. Dr. Tuteur, medical director of Comprehensive Health Center, has developed several lesbian health programs in San Diego, including outreach for breast cancer screening with mobile mammogram units. She also helps to ensure quality care for GLBT youth through her work at CHC and her volunteer service at the Hillcrest Youth Center.

The Ordinary Miracles Award recognizes Dale Kelly Bankhead and Sid Voorakkara’s efforts to help “unite a community to make a powerful difference,” The Center said. Bankhead, public affairs director for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, works with the GLBT civil rights organizations San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination and Equality for All. Voorakkara has been active in Democratic politics for more than a decade, and serves as interim campaign manager for the Equality for All campaign, working with the campaign’s board of directors to organize the campaign in its early stages and to hire permanent staff. Voorakkara also serves as co-chair of the San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination steering committee.

The Friend of The Center Award, given annually to a non-GLBT individual or organization that has played a critical role in improving the lives of GLBT San Diegans, is bestowed upon San Diego Youth & Community Services this year. SDYCS is a non-profit charitable organization serving abused, homeless and runaway children in San Diego. They provide comprehensive services through group homes, foster homes, community centers and transitional housing.

Alberto Cortés, executive director of Mama’s Kitchen, receives the Jess Jessop Founders Award this year for his long history of service to the HIV/AIDS and GLBT communities. After arriving in San Diego in 1983, Cortès volunteered for the AIDS Information Line, and worked at the San Diego AIDS Project on the first Spanish information line. As a health educator, he implemented the first South Bay Latino-focused HIV prevention effort in 1988.

“The Center provides a strong and important core for our community and I love being a part of it,” Cortès said. “So it is wonderful to receive an award from The Center. I humbly accept it in honor of our LGBTQ youth. They will take our community to places that will go way beyond the paradigms of possibility we currently hold.”

The gala’s cocktail reception and silent auction this Saturday begins at 6:00 p.m., and dinner, awards and dancing start at 7:00 p.m. Tickets to the gala are $150 and $300 VIP, and are available by calling (619) 692-2077 ext. 246.

“Everyone is invited,” Ingram said. “This event is a chance for our donors and friends to honor The Center’s accomplishments over the past year and celebrate the successes to come.”

The Marriott Hotel & Marina is located at 333 West Harbor Dr. in San Diego.