Saturday night’s fourth annual Dancing with the Stars Shasta County Style was the most lucrative of the shows ever, said Kristi Hanson, fundraising coordinator for the Shasta Women’s Refuge, the agency benefiting from the event. The six teams raised more than $65,000 combined, blowing away last year’s total of $16,000.

“It was an unbelievable amount of fundraising by our outstanding cast,” Hanson said Monday, adding that she was still reeling from the affirmation of the community to help the refuge. “It comes at such a great time for us.” Maria Orozco, Redding Rancheria’s public relations director, and her dance partner Jake Carver won both the champion and Judge’s Choice awards.

The champion title is based on fundraising alone, and Orozco and Carver raised more than $17,000, Hanson said. The Judge’s Choice award is based on the couple’s dance ability, and the two earned a perfect score by the three judges.

“I told Jake I wanted to win it all,” Orozco said Monday. “I told him I wanted to win it all and we did.” The perfect scores shocked Orozco, who had no previous dance training. She and Jake worked on their routines for only two weeks before the event, rehearsing four hours a day.

But when she stepped on stage, she decided to just have a good time. “During rehearsals Jake kept telling me to remember to smile, smile. But when I got on the stage, I couldn’t stop smiling, I was having so much fun.”

While Orozco only had a couple of weeks to rehearse, she kicked off the fundraising several months ago. The Redding Rancheria held barbecues, slot tournaments and other events to raise money. The Rancheria also was raising money for the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at the same time, but Orozco said people generously gave to both causes.

The other local celebrities who participated were: Rick Hill of Morgan Stanley; Karen Hoyt of Shasta Regional Medical Center; Dr. Nancy Ekelund of Ekelund Eyecare; Tad Shackles of Power 94 Radio and Orville Thomas of KRCR TV.

All of the money raised will go to Shasta Women’s Refuge programs and advocacy, Hanson said. Hanson is already starting to plan for next year, and asks that people who may be interested in participating or know people who they’d like to nominate to participate can contact her at 244-0118, ext. 202.