Thanks to a pass by the Dallas Cowboys, a rare Sunday Round Robin had fundraising acting downright like a Thursday.
CHANGE IS GOOD
Brook Hollow Golf Club has, for longer than Nolan Ryan has known a baseball, been synonymous with deb balls and holiday feasting by Dallas’ oldest families. It’s where the chic meet for a card game or swing a club. Sunday, it was giving Six Flags Over Texas and Chuck E. Cheese a run for their money.
Community Partners of Dallas’ Paige McDaniel, with crown in place, and Joanna Clarke, with a smile bigger than a Cadillac grill, looked around at the stately country club that had turned into a Willy Wonka funland thanks to Co-chair-families Carolyn and Paul Goelzer with munchkins Sophie and Elizabeth, Kimber and Michael Hartmann with munchkins Beau, Brice and Brooks and Angie and Kevin Kadesky with munchkins Elizabeth, Stephen, Alexander, Marie, Keith and Erin for Change is Good.
In order for the kids to participate, they must bring change to exchange for prize-chance tickets and an afternoon of fun. Last year they collected $13K in change, thanks to 103,000 coins brought in by the kids. The weight of the coins was so great, they had to rent a U-Haul to take the money to the bank because the coins weighed down the back of a regular car. And while that’s a nice little sum, the real money is made through sponsorship underwriting.
This year’s gathering of 550 kids and adult kids was overflowing all afternoon. Where usually there were couples sitting on the terrace watching the golfers, there were kids springing up and down courtesy of bungee cord
(Top photo) Leigh Anne Haugh and Audrey Anne Haugh; (Bottom photo) Edie Nelson and Joel Nelsonjumping. Inside, the only debs were those who would one day make their bows in 14 years. But Sunday they were doing the chicken dance, shaking the bounce house, decorating cookies, posing for photos and having their faces made up. And we’re not talking Neiman Marcus cosmetic counter style.
As for the parents, they were having just as much fun. It was a great excuse to be a kid again or to show off the next generation of the family. Leigh Anne Haugh had her arms full with newest Haugh arrival, Audrey Anne Haugh.
But, alas, all good things must come to an end. At least that’s the lesson that two-and-half-year-old Edie Nelson learned as she cried in the arms of her father, Joel Nelson, as she boarded the family SUV.
CATTLE BARON’S POST-BALL SILENT AUCTION
Lucky were those who discovered the silent auction tent at the Cattle Baron’s Ball on September 28. It was enclosed in a tent with walls and had a wood flooring and, most importantly, real bargains. The majority of guests had headed to the tent with all the food and the tented main stage area.
Ah, but there were some items that just did get snatched up, and those CBB ladies were bound and determined to break all records in getting their numbers up. To help them do that, Pappas Bros. donated an evening of food and adult beverages at Pappas Steakhouse to hold a silent auction with the un-snatched items.
According to CBB Auction Chair Andrea Weber, Pappas Bros. did the same thing in 2009 after rain put a damper on the ball.
Within the first half hour Sunday, the place was bulging with CBB-ers, friends like Babe Laufenberg and newbie buds. One CBB vet was amazed at the new faces in the crowd, commenting, “I didn’t know if I was at the right party.” It was so crowded that servers nearly couldn’t get around with trays of BBQ quail wrapped in bacon, brie and lobster salad in pastry cups and lamb chops. Then there was that mountain of cheeses against one of the walls getting attention.
WESTAPHER AUCTION PARTY
Once again, philanthropist Faye Briggs opened her house for the good of others. Sunday night it was for a dinner and auction for 300 patrons of Monday’s Westapher Golf Charity and Auction benefiting Nexus Recovery Center. At times there were as many people on the terrace as in the
living room, where Caroline Rose Hunt and Bob Brackbill sat on the couch catching up with Faye and Carmaleta Whiteley. In the kitchen, where Maggiano’s was serving up food, Ralph Gorman was chatting with artist Brad Oldham, whose owl sculpture was up for bid.
A huge platter of fudge was on the round table in the gathering room. One guest upon sampling the Maggiano’s fudge declared, “This stuff is thicker than my ex-husband.”
Speaking of the auction, the take for the evening at last count was $41,600, thanks to emcee Gina Miller. But wait there was still more auction action a the Monday tournament, where Troy Aikman was scheduled to drop by.