Paula Deen, crawfish raise funds for Megan’s Dream House

ALBANY — Paula Deen stood patiently as the line of admirers inched forward.

She dabbed at perspiration between giving out hugs and posing for photos with hometown fans who’d come to see the woman who’d taken $200 and a dream and turned them into one of the most amazing business empires in America.

“Whew, it’s a little warm in here,” Deen said in her familiar Southern drawl. “But I’m glad to be back home, happy to see some of my old friends and to help out with this wonderful cause.”

The cause that brought Deen back to her hometown — at the insistence of best friend Susan Greene — was a fundraiser for Easter Seals Southern Georgia, which is just into the third year of a four-year capital campaign to build Megan’s Dream House. The new, more roomy and modern structure will replace the existing Megan’s House, a respite home that provides care for children with developmental disabilities, autism, severe medical issues or other special needs.

Beth English, the executive director of Easter Seals Southern Georgia, said she expects funds raised from the Ragin’ Cajun Crawfish Boil at the Hasan Temple Saturday to be the “final piece of the puzzle” in raising the $525,000 targeted to make Megan’s Dream House, named for local special-needs child Megan Hollomon, a reality.

Deen’s The Bag Lady Foundation, whose charitable work is overseen by Greene, gave Easter Seals Southern Georgia’s fundraising efforts a push with a $5,000 donation at Saturday’s event.

“This is wonderful,” English said after accepting the check. “Paula is so gracious to come here and give her time to help us, and the donation is amazing.”

Zydeco music played in the background Saturday as ticketholders chowed down on crawfish, corn and other fixings prepared by an authentic Cajun chef brought in especially for the fundraiser.

“Seeing Paula is a bonus,” one ticketholder said. “But, man, these crawfish are good. The cooks knew what they were doing.”

David Prisant, an Easter Seals board member who was instrumental in planning the fundraiser, said Sunday the event came off well because of the “team effort” of those involved.

“I over-ordered food, but that’s what I do,” Prisant said. “We could have had more folks come out, but you always learn when you do things like this. This is the first time we’ve had anything like this in Albany in 20 years. I think everyone enjoyed the food, and we’ll see how much money we raised for Megan’s House.

“You can’t pull something like this off without help, and Marci Prisant, Keisha Callins and the Junior League really did a tremendous job of helping us pull things off. Lauren Watson did a beautiful job of decorating for Friday’s (private) and Saturday’s events, Tina Harden was a great help and the Easter Seals staff really pitched in. And, of course, Paula was very gracious.”

Deen, meanwhile, said her stay in Albany would be a short one, as she was heading back to Savannah Sunday.

“That’s the thing about coming home,” she said. “It’s so great to see everyone and spend as much time as I can here, but I’ve got to get back to business.”