Long before they were chairing galas, they were little girls watching.
Watching their mothers take late calls. Watching board meetings stretch into dinner. Watching women who believed that protecting children was not optional.
This year, at the Childhelp Wings Fashion Show, two of those little girls are now co-chairing alongside their mothers.
Not as a passing of the torch, but as proof that some legacies are meant to be carried together.
Missy Anderson and Jinger Richardson, sisters and longtime Scottsdale leaders, have spent decades helping shape both the city and Childhelp’s presence within it. Their daughters, Ashley Anderson and Janell Richardson Grady, grew up inside that world of service. This season, the four women stand side by side, two mothers and two daughters, leading one of the Valley’s most meaningful philanthropic traditions.
For Missy and Jinger, giving back was never performative. It was foundational.
Both were born and raised in Scottsdale during a time when the city still felt small enough to ride horses to the Soda Fountain and tie up at a hitching post. Their parents opened their first western clothing store on Main Street in 1962 and later launched Scottsdale’s first art gallery, helping define the Old Town character that still anchors the city today. Jinger and her husband have owned Legacy Gallery for 38 years and Scottsdale Art Auction for 21, continuing that legacy of art and culture in the heart of downtown.
Philanthropy ran just as deep as business.
“I was lucky to have such great role models in my parents, both in business and in philanthropy,” Missy says. “They taught us to give back however we could. They also showed us that it was the greatest joy to receive back in the process.”
Their connection to Childhelp began early and in parallel. Jinger and Missy’s mother trained some of the Childhelp therapists in the 1980s and 90s, while Missy met founders Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson in 1996 at the grand opening of their headquarters here in Scottsdale after relocating from California. She had already learned of their work alongside Nancy Reagan in launching the Vietnam Baby Airlift, saving thousands of babies abandoned on the streets, many of them half Asian and half white children of American servicemen.
“They have worked tirelessly and passionately for 65 years, helping hundreds of thousands of children here in Arizona and millions across the country,” Missy says.
The commitment deepened over time. Missy served on the boards of Florence Crittenton, AFW, and Childhelp. She chaired events for Florence Crittenton, AFW, and Childhelp, and served for years on the committees for Scottsdale Christian Academy and Heart Ball. Missy and Jinger also co-chaired Drive the Dream from 2008 to 2010 during some of Childhelp’s most challenging financial years. Jinger joined the board in 2008 and later served as president, implementing structural changes that still shape the organization today. Moving meetings to lunchtime allowed business leaders and elected officials to attend more consistently. Collaboration strengthened. Momentum grew.
“We all work together and it does not matter what party you affiliate with,” Jinger says. “We have one mission.”
While their mothers were building and leading, Ashley and Janell were absorbing.
Janell remembers volunteering as a sophomore in high school in 1998, blowing up balloons for the grand opening of the first Advocacy Center in Phoenix.
“I remember being struck by how beautiful the interior was,” she says. “On the wall, a simple but powerful message read, ‘All who enter here will find love.’”
Years later, that message became deeply personal. In 2018, Janell and her husband attended Drive the Dream and listened to a young boy share his story of abuse and eventual adoption supported through Childhelp’s services.
“As we listened, John and I looked at each other and knew we needed to be part of saving a child from that kind of pain and neglect,” she says.
They became foster parents in 2021 and adopted their daughter, Shea, in 2022.
“Giving back has never felt like an obligation,” Janell says. “It has always been a passion. It is simply part of who I am.”
Ashley’s connection to Childhelp is equally rooted, but spiritual in its beginnings. As a young girl navigating significant health challenges, she recalls being in The Little Chapel when Sara laid hands on her and prayed.
“The warmth I had always known, I now felt in every fiber of my soul,” Ashley says. “Their fierceness of faith and unwavering trust ignited something in me.”
She grew up watching her mother chair events for Florence Crittenton, AFW, and Childhelp, and serve on committees for Scottsdale Christian Academy and Heart Ball. She also volunteered alongside her mother at a young age, including at the crisis center at 12 and 14 years old. What appeared effortless from the outside was built on hours of work behind the scenes.
“I hope she saw that it was hard work, not all fluff and glamour, but also very fulfilling,” Missy says of those years.
When Ashley was asked to co-chair Wings, she had recently moved back to Arizona after nearly a decade in Colorado and Bavaria. She was raising her young daughter, rebuilding her life after a long season of personal transition, working within the family business, and formally launching her career as an artist, her lifelong passion.
The timing was not simple.
But gratitude outweighed hesitation.
“There is no greater honor than for someone to trust you with their heart,” Ashley says. “And that is exactly what Childhelp is.”
Missy initially resisted stepping back into a chair role, believing it was time for the next generation. It was Ashley who reminded her how rare and meaningful it would be to serve together, alongside Jinger and Janell, with their granddaughters modeling on the runway and the fourth generation represented in their mother’s attendance and support. It is an honor to have all four generations involved in this year’s event.
That pride flows both directions. Jinger speaks of Janell’s leadership with steady confidence. Janell, in turn, credits her mother’s 17 years of board service as the blueprint she follows.
“I believe that the value of giving back is taught at home,” Janell says. “The generations in my family are a testament to that.”
One of the most powerful aspects of the Wings Fashion Show is its ability to engage young people in philanthropy early. It is, at its heart, kids helping other kids who need us most.
This year’s Wings Fashion Show also arrives in a season of transition following the recent passing of co-founder Yvonne Fedderson. The loss is felt deeply among families who have known her for decades. But even in change, the mission remains steady.
There are children to protect. Families to support. Work to continue.
When asked whether this moment feels like a passing of the torch, Ashley answers with clarity.
“I have watched generations of women before me pour so much fire into that torch it could only ever be carried side by side,” she says. “Flames fanned in tandem throughout the years, as we always have.”
On the day of the show, children will step onto the runway in carefully curated fashion. Nearby will stand co-chairs who once rode horses up Camelback Mountain after school, who once volunteered as teenagers blowing up balloons for a grand opening, and who later restructured board meetings so community leaders could find a seat at the table.
This is not simply a fashion show.
It is a living example of what happens when children grow up watching and choose to serve and stand beside their parents, not behind them.
19th Annual Childhelp Wings Fashion Show
Sunday, May 3, 2026 | 10AM–2PM
The Phoenician
The Childhelp Wings Fashion Show and Luncheon returns Sunday, May 3, 2026, to The Phoenician’s Camelback Ballroom for a fashion-forward afternoon with purpose. This year’s theme, America’s Future All Stars: We Play for a Purpose, celebrates sports, family, and the next generation, timed with the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Emceed by PVCL’s Nadine Bubeck, the 19th annual event will honor founding mother Carol Hebets and the enduring legacy of Childhelp founders Sara O’Meara and the late Yvonne Fedderson. Organizers are inviting community leaders, athletes, public figures, and community members to model in this year’s runway, adding meaningful visibility and impact to the event.
wingsfashionshow.org