Dr. Merkin to Receive 'Champion of Youth Award'
Dr. Richard Merkin, a philanthropist and leader in the health care field, will be honored this Saturday, March 15, by the Coachella Valley Boys & Girls Club with "The Champion of Youth Award."
Dr. Merkin, a Los Angeles resident, is notable for his contributions to the Boys & Girls Club of America, and its local chapter, the Boys & Girls Club of the Coachella Valley.
The honors will be bestowed at the Boys & Girls Clubs "Grand Auction 2008," sponsored by Mathis Brothers Furniture. The event takes place at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and Spa in Indian Wells from 5 p.m. till 9:30.
This year's theme is "It's a Jungle Out There" and features the lively Kevin O'Callaghan as the evening's auctioneer. Proceeds from the auction fund after-school and summer youth development programs of the Boys & Girls Club of Coachella Valley, which serves over 4500 children and teens at clubs in Indio, La Quinta, and Coachella.
Unique, one-of-a-kind items to be offered in the live auction include:
- An acoustic guitar owned by musician Glenn Frey from the Eagles and signed by all four band members. Glenn's parents live in the desert and arranged to have the guitar donated to the Boys & Girls Club, saying that their son grew up in a Boys & Girls Club in Detroit as a young man.
- A total backyard landscape package valued at over $16,000 and includes landscape design, plants, sod, lighting, irrigation, boulders, etc. Fourteen local vendors are participating.
- Special-edition Nike tennis shoes customized for tennis great Roger Federer for the French Open with his personal autograph.
For more information on this event, contact Jan Hawkins at the Boys & Girls Club of the Coachella Valley at 836-1160, extension 103, or by cell phone at 333-8153.