Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of the New York Times best-selling book Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield, will be the special guest at the second annual Orchid Gala held at the Savannah Center on Saturday, May 21.
Sponsored by Villagers for Veterans, this event honors women veterans.
“We want to showcase women in the military,” said Marie Bogdonoff, head of Veterans for Villagers. “Today women are up front in combat; they make great sacrifices and get injured.”
A significant portion of the proceeds raised from this event will be allocated to women veterans.
A VIP event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring Lemmon. Entertainment will start at 7 p.m. The VIP event includes heavy hors d’oeuvres and wine. Lemmon, who graciously waived her substantial speaking fee in support of the cause, will discuss her book and be available to sign copies.
In the book Ashley’s War, which has been optioned as a movie by Reese Weatherspoon’s production company, Lemmon uses firsthand reporting to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women handpicked from across the Army, and of the remarkable hero at its heart: First Lieutenant Ashley White. Lemmon reveals how White and the pioneers of CST-2 worked to earn the respect of combat-tested special operation warriors and illuminates the very human stakes of their battlefield successes.
Lemmon is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and also the author of New York Times bestseller The Dressmaker of Khair Khana. She began her career as a journalist in Washington D.C., serving as an editorial producer during the first year of This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
She has reported on Afghanistan since 2005, when she made her first trip to the country. She writes for publications including The New York Times, The Financial Times, Fast Company, The Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek Daily Beast. She regularly appears on a number of broadcast networks, including PBS, MSNBC, CNN and National Public Radio.
Tickets for the VIP portion of the Gala are $75 and can be purchased by contacting Marie Bogdonoff directly at 516-220-5068. VIP tickets will be available through May 7.
The second part of the evening is an entertainment program featuring Roy Michaels, a versatile and popular performer in the Villages. Petrina will open the show. Tickets for the show are $25 and can be purchased at the Villages Box Office
Villagers for Veterans has been in operation since 2014 and has raised over $250,000.00. The money is used for devices that help injured veterans such as track chairs and service dogs.