About Us

The Alpha Charter Guild celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2024 and will hold it's 60th Hourglass Presentation Ball in 2025. The Guild has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Antelope Valley Medical Center since its inception in 1964. Though best known for its annual Hourglass Debutante Presentation Ball, the fundraising commitment of its members is a year-round affair.

Known as one of the fundraising arms of Antelope Valley Medical Center, the Guild has a long and rich history in the Valley.

Five area women in 1962 formed the nucleus of an unnamed group that began working to raise funds for specialized equipment at AVH. By 1964, the group decided to call the organization the Alpha Charter Guild. For over six decades, the philanthropic Alpha Charter Guild of the Antelope Valley Medical Center has provided new and expensive equipment to improve health care facilities for the people of this region. 

Through the years, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised to provide not only state-of-the-art medical equipment such as Giraffe Omni-beds for the Neonatal Infant Care Unit inside the Women and Infants Pavilion, but also to fund the Forensic Services Unit (formerly know as the Sexual Assault Response Service), the Family Resource Center and other projects.

Aside from the Hourglass Presentation Ball, the Guild holds four additional fundraising events each year to support the Medical Center – the Kentucky Derby party held in May, the Debutante Fashion Show held in July, a Wine Tasting dinner held in September and a Reverse Raffle Opportunity drawing and dinner held every October.

The heart of the Guild remains, however, the Debutante program. Though a lucrative fundraising endeavor, it is the primary labor of love for the hundreds of Guild members fortunate enough to have been involved throughout its history.