Crystal Charity Ball Committee Swings Into The Final Days For Saturday Night’s “Peace Love London”

There is a misconception about the Crystal Charity Ball committee. In the countdown days leading up to the area’s legendary fundraiser for Dallas County children’s charities, some folks actually think the ladies are at spas resting up for the big black-tie, sold-out hoopla at the Hilton Anatole.

So very wrong! By today they had taken over many of the conference rooms on the Anatole’s ground level with the clock ticking down for the Saturday night “Peace Love London” gala. In the Cortez Room were more than 1,000 favor boxes wrapped in gold paper with white ribbons imprinted with the words “Peace Love London.” Looking over the rows of boxes, Favor Chair Tiffany Divis proudly reported that over the summer they had gotten the wrapping down to a science where each one took four to six minutes to complete. Now each box was being color-coded for assignment to its proper place in the Chantilly Ballroom.

In the Peacock Terrace, goodies like children’s luxury vehicles were keeping company with Christmas trees that were being decorated by committee members. Across the lobby, Junior Villanueva’s Garden Gate team had turned the Coral Room into an explosion of colorful flowers that would decorate everything from the entry hall and the lobby to the ballroom with its table arrangements.

Next door in the Emerald Room, Special Gifts Chair Anne McPherson and Silent Auction Chair Susan Glassmoyer were at tables with their committee members surrounded by shelves with rows of 200 frames identifying each of the silent auction items, as well as special gifts that included everything from couture designers to pieces of art like “Sloan,” a 32 lb. marble sculpture valued at $12,000. [She’s no relation to any of the Sloane Rangers.] By Saturday all the items and gifts will be on view at the ball’s Mod Market.

In the Wedgwood Room, the committee members were tearing open delivery boxes with a vengeance. Inside were beautiful raspberry pink hardbound Children’s Books featuring magnificent photos of the donors’ children and pets. Within 72 hours, each would be taken home along  with the gold-wrapped favor boxes.

As noontime arrived, so did the vendors’ staffers joining the volunteers for lunch provided by Mesero’s in the Wedgwood. Looking over the room of people and boxes, 2021 CCB Chair Leslie Diers smiled. She seemed a bit amazed, saying, “It’s all going so smoothly.”

In the meantime, the Chantilly lobby, where the cocktail reception would take place with the raffle’s convertible Lexus on display, and the ballroom, site of the seated supper, were already showing definite signs of crossing the pond. One wall was decked out as a double-decker bus, and across the way were billboard-size graphics of the Fab Four on two walls with Big Ben towering rightly over all.

So, if you know someone who had that misconception of the ladies resting, tell them to get a life. These volunteers were hands-on to raise funds for the 2021 CCB beneficiaries (Baylor Scott and White Dallas Foundation, Café Momentum, Dallas CASA, Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, Dallas Symphony Association Inc., Network of Community Ministries, Phoenix House Texas and Scottish Rite for Children).