MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Wave of Hope, a Lake County-based traveling exhibit of portraits and stories from people who have been through some tough times, will make its 20th appearance on Saturday, March 28, at Twin Pine Casino and Hotel on Highway 29 in Middletown.

The event will be a dinner-dance beginning at 5 p.m. There also will be a variety of entertainment.

The dinner, said Sharon Dawson, the Wave of Hope creator and manager, will include silent and live auctions with funds going to help defray costs of travel and administration of the exhibit, which seeks to break the silence surrounding depression in an effort to address the community's high suicide rate.

Dawson said that she expects the event to be a sell-out with no tickets available at the door.

Tickets cost $35 each and are tax-deductible. More information is available at the Wave of Hope telephone number, 707-888-0882, or online at http://www.thewaveofhope.org/tickets.htm .

The entertainment will be provided by the Sonoma County Taiko Drummers, multi-talented instrumentalist Dennis Purcell, hula dancers from Kehaulani Hula Studio and the CAM Band.

Among auction prizes are a week’s stay in a condominium in Palm Springs; a performance by master keyboardist David Neft; a set of golf clubs and a round of golf for two at Aetna Springs golf course valued at $380; four of Dawson’s paintings with an individual value of $1,200; and a dinner with a menu planned by a private chef and prepared in the home of the winning bidder.

One of the reasons for the Wave of Hope dinner-dance is to inform interested people “how far we’ve come since May 31st of last year when we started,” Dawson said.

“Let’s put it this way,” she added. “We’ve shown 19 times, including at schools. With Wave One, we’ve been in Napa County, Petaluma and currently in Santa Rosa. This coming year we’ll be in Ukiah in April and, hopefully, Marin.”

Another reason for the event, Dawson said, is “We need expenses for Wave Two which includes 20 people 12 of whom have been interviewed and photographed.”

With Wave One, she said, Wave of Hope “blazed a trail.”

“People are looking at us; people are finding out we’re unique and we’re being discovered,” she said.

Dawson praised Twin Pine for providing a venue for Wave of Hope.

“They have provided us a wonderful venue for almost no money,” she said. “Anywhere else it would have cost five or six grand.”

Dawson is hoping to raise $7,000 with this event.

Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .