Letitia Frye Honored at 2nd Annual St. Jude Presents: A Night in Monte Carlo Gala

By Tyler Butler
Hundreds of valley philanthropists gathered at Hanger One on May 4 for the 2nd annual St. Jude Presents: A Night in Monte Carlo.
At the event, St. Jude honored Letitia Frye for her many years of outstanding service as she has been serving up her unique brand of “auctiontaining” at over 30 St. Jude events annually and through many years of service she has helped to raise over $450 million for this cause. Moving forward the award will be known as the Letitia Frye Honorary Award.
Letitia Frye has a long history as a dynamic auctioneer, motivational speaker and author. She is known for her passionate approach to everything she becomes involved with and coined the term “auctiontainer” in describing her unique brand of fundraising at charity galas. She is an active volunteer who believes that her passion for what she does has enabled her to find success.
The event was chaired by Carey Pena and Oscar De Las Salas who recently had a chance to visit the children’s hospital with Letitia to see first-hand the impact that her work has made.
Lynn and Foster Friess served as Honorary Chairs for this event, which raised over $173,000. These funds were raised by silent and live auctions, which brought in more than $43,000 and the Rolex Raffle accumulated more than $15,000.
The event was followed by a new type of after party brought to Arizona by Letitia herself. The silent disco party allowed guests to select music from one of three DJs that were playing. Each DJ was paired with a color and the headphones were color coordinated to the DJ each person was listening to. The after party was sponsored by Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
The committee included Michelle McQueen, Marissa Hinderks, Taylor Beasley, Jeff Berlinsky, Tanner Gray-Spencer, Caryn Hite, Lynita Johnson, Rachel Martin, Missy Urlaub and Kristin Whitnable.