2014 Charity Contest Winners

Midnight Velvet Announces 2014 “Giving Fabulous” Contest Winners

Three diverse and deserving charities each received a $5,000 donation from national retailer Midnight Velvet.

The Midnight Velvet customer takes care of herself, her family, and still manages to volunteer and give back to her community. Midnight Velvet honors that giving spirit each year with a contest called “Giving Fabulous.” Almost 1,000 nominations were received in Spring 2014 for giving, caring, and dedicated individuals. Three individuals were chosen and were given the opportunity to choose a nonprofit organization to which Midnight Velvet will donate $5,000. The winners are from California, Florida, and South Dakota.

Rochelle Ripley was nominated by Elaine Reynolds for her work with “hawking.” Elaine shared in her nomination essay, “Rochelle formed a non-profit, hawkwing, in 1998 to honor a promise to her Lakota Grandmother to go home and help their people of the Cheyenne River Lakota/Sioux Tribe – the poorest place in America (US Census 2000/2010). For 15 years, she has built strong relationships to create trust and engagement with people across America and in the Tribe.”

Alexis Moore in El Dorado Hills, California from “Survivors in Action” was nominated six times, including a self-nomination. She shared, “My name is Alexis Moore, and I am the founder and president of Survivors in Action, a national non-profit crime victim advocacy organization. As a survivor of domestic violence, stalking and cyberstalking, I have made it my personal and professional mission to help others prevent, defeat, and overcome abuse of any kind. In that regard, I founded Survivors in Action, which supports victims of any crime regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation or immigration status.”

Estella Pyfrom was received a $5,000 donation for her charity, “Estella’s Brilliant Bus.” In her self-nomination she wrote, “At the age of seventy one (71) Estella took her retirement money to build and customize a bus equipped with Wi-Fi and computers, to provide technology in the neighborhoods, thus helping to bridge the digital divide gap for the underserved. Estella Pyfrom, age 77, a retired educator, created the Brilliant Bus, which travels around as an educational resource center to underprivileged/underserved communities.”

This is the third year Midnight Velvet has offered this contest. “We developed this contest to celebrate and recognize people who inspire change and make a difference in their communities,” says Ann Bush, Midnight Velvet President. “For over 27 years, we have been celebrating beauty inside and out. We wanted to give back to our customers and the communities they are involved in.”