Proceeds from annual talent show raffle to go toward purchase of a wheelchair-accessible van
Ashland High School holds its annual Grizz Pageant at 7 p.m. Friday, April 7, at the North Mountain Theatre, with a raffle benefiting “Sparrow” and senior Luke Hogan Laurenson, also a pageant contestant.
The Grizz Pageant is a talent show with male and female AHS students competing in a mock pageant from which will emerge “Grizz.” To see a 2023 YouTube preview, click here.
Admission is $5 for students and $10 for adults to attend the pageant, which is open to the community. Contestants are all selling raffle tickets for the event, including Luke.
The 18-year-old was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects his body movement and muscle tone, at 6 months old. In addition he also has dysarthria, a speech disability. Through a partnership between he and his mother, Jane Hogan, and Sparrow Clubs USA, a Bend-based nonprofit with a regional office in Medford, he is fundraising for a wheelchair-accessible van that would ease travel for he and his mom.
According to the Sparrow Club’s website, a “Sparrow” – a local child up to 17 years old with a life-threatening or life-affecting illness or condition is adopted by a participating school that “adopts” a Sparrow in a friendship way and chooses to rally together and complete 300 hours of community service in order to unlock sponsored funds for their Sparrow family. Local businesses or individuals who provide the “seed money” that students unlock through their community service to others are Community Club Sponsors, which also cover organizational expenses, making the program 100% free to schools.
Luke has an inspiring story that has been shared widely, including in The Oregonian and in Ashland.news. Doctors told his mom that he would likely not walk. He proved everyone wrong, learning to walk at age 13, inspired by Taylor Swift, his favorite singer-songwriter.
The senior loves music and theatre. He’s also a 4.0 student and has big dreams of making it to New York after high school, where he hopes to become an actor, model or sound engineer.
Raffle tickets are for sale for $5 each, with a number of prizes to win, including: a $40 gift certificate to Brothers, a $150 BioSkin gift basket, a $50 gift certificate to Rogue Valley Roasting Co., a ticket voucher for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a $50 gift certificate to Luna Cafe at Ashland Hills Hotel, a 60-minute massage at Waterstone Massage, a $100 gift certificate to Valley View Nursery, a Bestow gift certificate, a one-night stay at Plaza Inn, a $50 gift certificate to Paddington Station, a $20 gift certificate to Bloomsbury, a Tree House Books gift certificate and a Rare Earth Gift Basket.
Raffle tickets can be purchased via Venmo (mention “Luke’s Angels), by cash, or checks made out to “Luke’s Angels.”
Those wishing to buy raffle tickets can also buy them at the door on Friday at Mountain Avenue Theatre, on the high school campus at 201 S. Mountain Ave.
For more information, contact AHS Leadership Teacher Aimee Cork at [email protected].
Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].
April 6 update: Contest winner gender reference removed.
