Friends 'til the end Boys and Girls Club benefits from trio's connection

Timra Carlson, Amy Stern Dauphin and Donna Lagana Silva, close friends and members of the North Andover High School Class of 1984, laughingly describe their high school experience in two words: "big hair."

More than two decades later, the trio's friendship has long outlasted the feathered bangs and teased 'dos of the 1980s. Carlson, Stern Dauphin and Lagana Silva get their children together for play dates — each has a son and a daughter under the age of 5 — and are helping to organize an April 5 auction fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.

"For me, there's nothing better than old friends. They know where you come from," said Stern Dauphin.

Supporting the Boys and Girls Club is something the three women feel strongly about. They've been finding donations of goods and services for the auction, which annually raises close to $400,000.

Stern Dauphin described the auction as "the most electric evening." Some of the more than 300 items up for bidding that night include trips to Hawaii and Ireland, Boston Celtics game tickets and a baseball signed by Red Sox captain Jason Varitek.

Money raised at the event, which is a red carpet-themed dinner with live and silent auctions, held at DiBurro's in Haverhill, go toward everyday expenses, "keeping the doors open" at the Lawrence club, Stern Dauphin said.

The club has more than 3,000 members and operates from two facilities, a main location on Water Street and a satellite, called the Beacon Club, in the Beacon Projects in South Lawrence.

More than 500 inner-city youths visit the Water Street facility after school every day, which was rebuilt in October 2006 on the footprint of its previous building, funded almost entirely by private donations. The club also offers a healthy dinner every night, which id usually served to about 250 kids.

"It's just a wonderful, wonderful thing. The kids here are good kids," said Stern Dauphin.

Many of the club's members are from single-parent families and visit the club for homework help, sports and social activities, said Lagana Silva.

"This is their family," she said, looking around the Water Street facility. "It's keeping them off the streets."

The trio is part of a committee of about 35 volunteers working to find donations for the April 5 auction. They have been collecting items for goody bags for each attendee.

"Everyone there will go home with something special to remember the evening," said Carlson.

Stern Dauphin lives in Andover with her husband, Brian Dauphin, and two children, and is president of Sunglasses U.S.A. Brian Dauphin, as well as Amy's sister Penny Stern Cieri and brother-in-law Frank Cieri, are also active in fundraising and events for the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.

Lagana Silva and her husband, David Silva, are attorneys who work out of a law office in downtown Andover. They live with their two children in Andover.

Carlson lives with her husband, Richard Ratcliff, and two children in North Andover. Right now, her full-time job is as a stay-at-home mom with Lily, 4, and Lucas, 18 months. Carlson moved back to North Andover in 2005 after working at a marketing job in New York City for 17 years.

In high school, the trio "hung out with the same crowd" and all played sports. Carlson and Stern Dauphin and were on the ski team at North Andover High School together and were both managers of the football team; Lagana Silva and Carlson played on the NAHS softball team together.

Priorities in high school for the three were "socializing, girlfriends, sports, boys and a little studying," recalled Carlson with a laugh.

The trio worked together to plan their 20-year NAHS reunion in 2004. From there, Stern Dauphin, who had been involved with fundraising for the Boys and Girls Club with her sister, convinced the other two to help with organizing the auction.

"It's that sparkle in her eye," said Carlson of Stern Dauphin, as the trio talked about getting involved with the club. "From the first meeting (about the auction), I was hooked ... I can't think about not being involved next year."

"I knew it was enough of me, me, me. It was time to give back," said Lagana Silva.

"And I'm glad our children are seeing us give back," agreed Stern Dauphin. "Feeling involved, seeing the smiles on the kids' (in the club) faces, it means everything."

They put together a slide show of photos for their high school reunion, and will be doing the same thing for the Boys and Girls Club fundraiser, with photos of club activities.

To find donations for the auction, each woman used a different approach to contacting local businesses — many from classmates who now own businesses in town — from letters to in-person visits, reflecting their personalities.

"We have three completely different styles and personalities. Amy's quiet and calm, Timra's very concrete, very factual, and I morph — I roll with the punches," said Lagana Silva with a smile.

Despite the current economic climate, they were overwhelmed with the generous response they've received, the trio agreed. From MacAloon's Liquors and Lazer Craze to Priscilla Chocolates and All Things Sicilian, businesses around town were willing to donate as soon as they heard about the auction.

Carlson's dentist, Charles Beliveau, donated a teeth-whitening session after she mentioned the auction. Jay Paiva, who went to North Andover High with the three women and owns Taylor Rentals, agreed to donate all the linens for the auction event.

Lagana Silva is baking and decorating a gingerbread house to donate as one of the auction items.

The women use their weekly auction planning meetings as an excuse to get together, and their Friday night play dates allow their children to play while the parents visit. Carlson hosts a once-a-month get-together of about a dozen girlfriends, mostly classmates, to play the dice game Bunco and socialize.

Carlson said she has saved all the notes the three girls wrote back in forth in class from seventh grade through high school — there are more than 500 of them. She plans to host a party soon, where she and all alumni from her Bunco group will open the notes — and a bottle or two of wine — and read them together.

Open bar and silent auctions open at 5:30 p.m., dinner is at 7:30 p.m., live auction is at 8 p.m.

For information or to buy tickets, visit www.lawrencebgc.com or call 978-683-2747

Operates two facilities and serves over 4,000 members per year, 60 percent of whom live in one-parent families. More than 97 percent are minorities.

The original Lawrence Boys Club was at 224 Broadway St. and opened in March 1891. In 1918, the Boys Club moved to a 21,000-square-foot facility on Haverhill Street, where it remained until moving to Water Street in 1963. A new 58,000-square-foot, state-of-the art facility was built on Water Street in October 2006.

Photos

Donna Lagana Silva of Andover, Timra Carlson of North Andover and Amy Stern Dauphin of Andover laugh as they look over their 1984 North Andover High School yearbook. The trio, who have been friends since they attended NAHS, are helping plan the auction for the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club fundraiser on April 5. They are surrounded by some of the gift baskets up for the auction. Staff photo

Timra Carlson of North Andover, Donna Lagana Silva of Andover and Amy Stern Dauphin of Andover, who have been friends since they attended North Andover High School, are helping plan the auction for the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club fundraiser on April 5. Staff photo