Real money in playhouses

Auction of elaborate playhouses raises $500,000 for group that helps Orange County’s homeless.Although it was foggy and drizzling rain outside, there was a safari in progress inside the Project Playhouse auction tent at Fashion Island on Saturday night.

Master of ceremonies and auctioneer Chuck Dreyer bounced around among the roughly 600 attendees at the safari-themed event, accepting bids for the 10 luxury playhouses that have been on display at Fashion Island for the past six weeks.

Prior to the live auction, the group Addawe performed a lively African dance, drum and vocal show. Event volunteers got into the spirit of the evening by wearing animal-print clothes.

Project Playhouse co-chairwoman Brandi Uehli said the 14th annual event brought in more than $500,000, an amount that has been the group’s target for many years.

“That’s been our goal from day one, so it was very exciting,” she said. “I was crying at the end of the night.... It’s the first time we actually hit [the goal].”

All proceeds from Saturday’s event benefit HomeAid Orange County, a charitable arm of the Building Industry Assn. that develops shelters for the transitionally homeless, primarily women and children. Since its inception in 1989, HomeAid Orange County has completed 37 shelter projects and has four more in the works, including the Village of Hope shelter scheduled to open early next year. Village of Hope will house some of the 1,076 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Orange County.

Pam Wright, 31, is living proof of what the organization has accomplished, and she shared her story with the audience.

After spending 30 days in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, she needed somewhere to go with her 9-year-old son as she got her life back in order. The two now live in Regina House in Santa Ana, which was built by HomeAid.

“Thank god for the organization, because without them I don’t know how people would be able to get on their feet,” Wright said. “I don’t know what I would have done. I’m glad they have this buffer, this sort of transitional living.”

Wright is now taking finance and accounting classes and is planning to become a banker.

The more than $500,000 raised for Project Playhouse came from sponsorships, ticket sales, a silent auction, private donations and the playhouse auction.

The elaborate playhouses are designed and built by Southern California homebuilders. The building teams compete for prizes, and a lot of creativity and effort go into the designs. This year, most of the houses came complete with flat-screen plasma TVs, surround-sound systems, game boxes and running water.

Carrie and Kevin Gilbreth of Highland won the Angels in the Dugout playhouse, this year’s opportunity prize, after teaming up with friends and purchasing $2,000 worth of raffle tickets.

Their son, 4-year-old Cameron Gilbreth, said it’s perfect for him because he wants to be a baseball player when he grows up.

Another happy little girl was Orange Park Acres resident Marina Praet, 6, whose father, Bruce Praet, bought her the Maka Hale playhouse built by KTGY Group for $17,000.

Marina had picked out the playhouse weeks before, and as soon as they won, she looked at her dad with sparkling eyes and a giant smile and threw her arms around him.

“It’s Hawaiian,” Marina said, explaining why she liked the Maka Hale house. “I like Hawaiian, and I took hula lessons.”

One of the highlights of this year’s auction was a structure built by K. Hovnanian Homes called the Spirit of New Orleans, which was modeled after homes in the French Quarter. The team designed the house before Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

After the disaster, K. Hovnanian decided it would match the sale price of the New Orleans-style playhouse and donate the money to HomeAid’s Gulf Coast Rebuilding Project. The playhouse sold for $63,000 to Michael Schorck, former co-chairman of Project Playhouse. He then donated it back for re-auction, and it brought in another $40,000.

Another highlight of the evening was Dreyer’s co-host, former soap opera actress Nadia Bjorlin, who played Chloe on “Days of Our Lives.” Bjorlin attended the event with her boyfriend, actor James Stevenson, and decided it would be funny to auction him off for a date.

After a fierce bidding battle, a young lady won the date for $5,500.

Stevenson decided Bjorlin needed to be auctioned off as well -- and she beat her boyfriend, drawing a winning bid of $6,000.

“I thought it was amazing,” Bjorlin said of Saturday’s event. “It was really a lot of fun. The energy is amazing.... I got a date out of it as well.”

Stevenson agreed with his girlfriend.

“Incredible event,” he said. “Great cause, great organization, well-run. Everything was great.”

Dreyer, who does the live auction for Project Playhouse every year, said he loves the event.

“I work with a lot of charities,” he said. “HomeAid is the best. It’s a wonderful organization. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

For more information on HomeAid Orange County, visit www.homeaidoc.org.

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at (714) 966-4625 or lindsay.sandham@latimes.com.