By KRISTI MAYFIELD
It is often amazing what one person can do but, when people work together towards a common goal the possibilities are endless, as demonstrated recently by the group that hosted the inaugural Helping One Woman (HOW) Dinner in Oakdale.
Melonie Rocha was inspired to join and work with other local women to start a local chapter of HOW here in Oakdale after she attended a dinner herself for another local woman, Monica Ferrulli, whose son Mason Ferrulli of Ripon, had been valiantly fighting cancer since having been diagnosed with anaplastic recurrent/metastatic ependymoma more than four years prior. The Ferrulli family was one of many families that was sponsored by one of their friends in the community and even though Mason passed away last year, the love that the local community had for him and his entire family was evident through the many events and fundraisers dedicated to them, with the HOW fundraiser being one of them.
Founded in 2008 by Charlotte Bavaro and Brenda Critzer, Helping One Woman is focused on some basic principles including how one woman can buy another woman lunch for $10 and ten people with $10 can buy a woman and her family groceries and it continues to grow with each $10 donation. From the single chapter that originated in Fresno to various chapters now throughout the state including the Central Valley, Delano, Oakhurst, Sonora, Folsom, Madera, Lodi and now Oakdale, the organization and its mission of helping one woman at a time as she faces incredible obstacles, loss and grief, continues to thrive.
Rocha knew that HOW was an organization that she wanted to support and one that could also help with the fundraising for her sister, Denise Martin-Dotterer and her family.
“I’ve attended some of the dinners and they touched my heart and I knew that we had to start a chapter of HOW here in Oakdale,” said Rocha when noting what motivated her to sponsor the inaugural dinner. Recently, Martin-Dotterer’s husband Steve was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease, a condition that affected his father as well and though the family has managed to navigate through the illness by adopting various healthy lifestyle changes, in March of 2024, Steve began dialysis treatments three times a week for multiple hours to treat his illness. He is currently on the transplant list which forced him to cut back on his work hours which has been tough on the whole family.
Martin-Dotterer knows that her husband might be on the transplant list for a long time but as she noted, this first HOW Dinner in Oakdale was about more than raising funds; it was also about raising awareness for organ donation and funding research for the disease. Both Martin-Dotterer and Rocha were visibly moved by the turnout at the dinner. With a sold-out house of more than 100 tickets and raffle baskets for the silent auction lined up as far as the eye could see, the dinner definitely fulfilled its mission of helping out one woman and her family as they continue to face some challenging times ahead.
Rocha and her family sponsored this dinner which means that they were responsible for organizing the raffle prizes, the food, beverages, door prizes, venue, pretty much everything required to put it on but Rocha said that she, along with her friends and neighbors were happy to join together to support the cause. Through the generosity of many vendors including the Oakdale Event Center, Black Arrow Trucking and the culinary delights of Chef John Fisher, they were able to sell all of their tickets with all proceeds from the event going to the Dotterer family.
The next dinner is coming up on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at the Oakdale Event Center and will sponsor Kendra Spencer and her daughter Averie, who was recently diagnosed with a Stage IV Wilms Tumor, which primarily affects the kidneys but can spread throughout the body. For more information on the HOW Dinner and how you can help the family, visit February Oakdale HOW Dinner | Facebook
