The ballroom at the Four Points Hotel transformed into a winter wonderland for the 2024 YPG Winter Ball.

The Desert Committee and three major sponsors hosted the ball on Dec. 6, 2024. Desert Committee President Joel Ramirez explained, what motivated the committee to take on this event.

“The Desert Committee was looking to host an event for the YPG community to celebrate the men and women who serve, those who serve.”

The committee reached out to U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground leadership who said YPG hadn’t hosted a ball since 2012.

“What better opportunity to highlight the YPG community. That’s why we were delighted to host it,” remarked Ramirez.

The ball was open to those who support the mission at YPG. This was important because most of the workforce is civilian, there’s a large portion that are contractors and community organization also support YPG’s mission.

Ramirez said more than 200 people attended including Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls, members of the Yuma 50 a local group who supports the military, Gladys Brown the Yuma International Airport Director, Tom Rush founder & wealth advisor of Yuma Investments Group, Reetika Dhawan the Arizona Western College Chief Executive Officer of Entrepreneurial College and Vice President of Workforce and Healthcare as well as former YPG Commander Ross Poppenberger and Command Sgt. Maj. Jamathon Nelson.

“We were able to get the YPG community as well as local leaders together under one roof which was great opportunity for all to enjoy a night of tradition, honor, and of course dancing,” said Ramirez.

Patrick Franklin served as the master of ceremonies and Chaplain Maj. Ryan Pearse the performed benediction. YPG’s Color Guard, made up of Soldiers from the Airborne Tests Force kicked off the formal ceremony. Garry Bishop the Deputy Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Land and Expeditionary Warfare flew in from the East Coast to serve as the guest speaker.

“Mr. Bishop is really well known within the test community,” said Ramirez, and also extremely busy, yet the committee still extended the invitation. “He said he would be honored to. He set everything aside and came out. He’s definitely a firm supporter of the YPG community,” said Ramirez.

The all-volunteer committee each tackled a duty to ensure the event became an experience. Ramirez recounted, “I had a decorating committee ran by Amanda Chavis, a committee specifically for soliciting for sponsorships ran by Grace Connor, Jeff Tatar, Emma Almendarez working tirelessly on the weekends and days off, and we had another committee volunteer who helped me run the entire thing. Stefanie Jacobs, she was great in helping me facilitate everything that happened during the event.”

Attendees arrived at an arch made by the committee and walked onto a red carpet for photos with a winter themed background and given a glass of champagne. While inside they received a commemorative YPG Winter Ball coin and had wine waiting for them for a toast. The highlight of the night had to be the mixture of the grog with Command Sgt. Mark Millare appeared to enjoy leading.

Attendees were given raffle tickets with the option to purchase more. The raffle prizes were donated by local companies like PHD Plumbing, Stranded Ink Tattoo, BGD Custom Creations, Dandy, Fretworks, Amara Rejuve, JBT Designs, Hooters, Famous Dave’s, Prison Hill Brewery, Crazy Earl’s, and Desert Committee LLC.

Ramirez expressed his sincere gratitude for making the inaugural event successful.

“I would like to give a special thank you to Yuma Investments Group, Yuma International Airport and the Yuma 50 who were our top sponsors. Without them we couldn’t have made this event an experience.”