• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Advertising

My Sweet Charity

An Ongoing Conversation For the Good Of Dallas

  • Home
  • Photo Gallery
  • Event Calendar
  • Fundraisers
  • Health
  • Heroes
  • Contact

Even Rainy Weather Couldn’t Dampen The Overflowing Crowd For NorthPark Ambassadors’ Dinner

Apr 18, 2023 1:30 PM by Jeanne Prejean

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share

Due to the number of guests, this year’s NorthPark Ambassadors dinner at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek was reconfigured. Instead of the dinner on the Veranda, it required the main dining room for both the dinner and cocktail party with two rows of tables extending from the fireplace across the room.

Ambassadors’ dinner table

As the Ambassadors (Lindy Berkley for Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, Andrea Cheek for Cattle Baron’s Ball, Bela Cooley for Dallas Museum of Art, Isabell Novakov Higginbotham for Cattle Baron’s Ball, Lori Jones for The Salvation Army, Angie Kadesky for Crystal Charity Ball, Andrea Nayfa for Children’s Health, Abi and Fred Perpall for Two by Two for AIDS and Arts, Lisa Rocchio for Texas Ballet Theater, Myrna Schlegel for Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Kimberly Schlegel Whitman for Children’s Cancer Fund, Lisa Sherrod for The Family Place and Carla Thompson for The Cliburn) and their beneficiary representatives arrived, it became clear that the crowd was going to be cozy. But, heck, it provided more opportunities to get to know each other.

Still another issue to be dealt with was the weather. NorthPark’s Events Director Kristin Casner had crossed her fingers that the rains would hold off until the guests had arrived and it did … sorta. Chase Cooley and Dallas Museum of Art Director Agustin Arteaga arrived with sprinkles of raindrops on their jackets that were quickly shooed  away, and a couple of the gals were sheltered by umbrella-carrying valets.

Chase and Bela Cooley
Agustin Arteaga

Agustin admitted that despite last year’s break-in at the DMA, he felt sorry for the accused assailant. Grateful that no one was hurt, Agustin explained that when someone breaks in, you don’t know if they’re armed. In this case, it was a young man who had moved to the area for a young lady only to have his attention rejected.

Justin Whitman and Kimberly Schlegel Whitman and Myrna and Bob Schlegel
John and Lisa Rocchio
Carla and Kelly Thompson

Pink was a major player in the look of the night, with bare shouldered Lisa Rocchio in sizzling magenta, Trey Higginbotham in a pink tie, Ambassador Carla Thompson in a sleeveless Herrera and Myrna Schlegel in hot pink with pleated draping cape and dazzling stilettos with husband Bob Schlegel (they were just back from Palm Beach).

Trey Higginbotham and Isabell Novakov Higginbotham
Jacques Marquis and Sandra Doan
David and Andrea Nayfa and Brent Christopher
Lisa Runyon and Brad Berkley

Holding its own in the spectrum of the looks was tried-and-true black thanks to Sandra Doan and Ambassadors Isabell Novakov Higginbotham, Lori Jones, Andrea Nayfa and Bela Cooley, whose black feathered hem was still fluttering despite the rainy weather, and Lisa Runyon, who thought she had made a clean and dry arrival only to have a valet follow in search of a key to their car. Only it wasn’t the usual key. It was a card for her Tesla. No problem. Brad Berkley quickly helped resolve the issue.

Lindy Berkley and Lori Jones
Isabelle Haemisegger, David Haemisegger and Nancy Nasher

And that’s not to say that whites and creams were no-shows, thanks to Ambassador Lindy Berkley and  the evening’s co-hostess Nancy Nasher in a white dress with navy embroider trim and interlocking “Gs'” for Gucci.

Children’s Cancer Fund Executive Director Jennifer Arthur and Texas Ballet Theater Executive Director Vanessa Logan were having a couple of busy nights. Tuesday evening Jennifer would be at the CCF patron party at Jamie and Melbourne O’Banion‘s home, and Vanessa would be at the Perot for the 2023-2024 TBT season reveal hosted by Nancy Carlson.

Little did they know that a special guest of honor was enjoying a private dinner in the Garden Room. The young man in the blue suit with vest and tie was none other that the 2023 Martin Luther King Oratory winner/T.L. Marsalis STEM Academy 5th grader Zihair Douglas and his dad Nakia Douglas. It seems that last year when he came in second place in the MLK competition, Zihair told his folks that he was going to win this year. Later in the evening Zihair would impress the Ambassador gathering with his composure, articulation and passion.

Nakia Douglas and Zihair Douglas

And speaking of passion, that was the driving force that had been instilled in Nancy Nasher by her parents, the late Patsy and Ray Nasher.

Nancy recalled how Patsy had directed her to get involved with NorthPark, and her father told her to go to law school. It was also Patsy whose passion for art resulted in creation of the Nasher Sculpture Center.

Despite her death in 1988 after battling breast case for years, the family saw her passion for a center of sculptural art come to fruition.

It was also following Patsy’s death that Nancy and David Haemisegger, who had met their first day at Princeton, married in October 1990.

When asked if their children (Sarah Harmisegger, Isabelle Harmisegger and David Haemisegger) were interested in carrying on the family passion for retailing and art, Nancy said it was too early to say and that she only wanted them to pursue a journey about which they felt passionate.

Over the months ahead, NorthPark merchants will partner up to help the Ambassadors provide financial support and awareness.

For more sights of the night, check out MySweetCharity Photo Gallery.

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share

Filed Under: Beneficiaries, By invitation only, Cocktail reception, Dinner, Events, Fashion, FYI, MySweetCharity Photo Gallery Alert, Weather Tagged With: Agustín Arteaga, Andrea Nayfa, Bela Cooley, Bob Schlegel, Brad Berkley, Carla Thompson, Chase Cooley, David Haemisegger, David Nayfa, Isabell Novakov Higginbotham, Isabelle Haemisegger, Jacques Marquis, John Rocchio, Justin Whitman, Kelly Thompson, Kimberly Schlegel Whitman, Lindy Berkley, Lisa Rocchio, Lisa Runyon, Lori Jones, Myrna Schlegel, Nakia Douglas, Nancy Nasher, NorthPark Ambassadors, NorthPark Center, Sandra Doan, Trey Higginbotham, Zihair Douglas

Primary Sidebar

We cover the people, organizations and activities that make the North Texas area unique thanks to philanthropic and nonprofit endeavors. We limit our coverage to only news that directly impacts and benefits the area, but we do it with an "honest but friendly" hand...

MySweetCharity does not cover activities or news of a controversial nature.

Materials on this site are © copyrighted. Images contained on this website are not within the public domain. To republish, please send request to [email protected] for permission.

Disclaimer: We are provided gratis invitations from organizations without any expectations on their part of any coverage.

Subscribe for Email Updates

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow MyTweetCharity on Twitter
Follow MySweetCharity on Facebook

MySweetCharity

Resources

  • After-School All-Stars North Texas
  • Baylor Scott & White Health
  • Callier Center
  • Children's Health
  • Community Partners of Dallas
  • Dallas CASA
  • Dallas Film Society
  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra
  • Equest
  • Family Gateway
  • Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas
  • Goodwill Industries of Dallas
  • Housing Crisis Center
  • Leukemia Texas
  • North Texas Giving Day
  • Southwest Transplant Alliance
  • Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas
  • Texas Women's Foundation
  • The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture
  • The Dallas Opera
  • The Family Place
  • The Magdalen House
  • Trinity Park Conservancy

Categories

Archives

MySweetCharity sponsorships

  • Callier Cares Luncheon
  • Celebrating Women
  • Community Partners of Dallas
  • Crystal Charity Ball
  • Equest
  • Healing Hands Luncheon
  • KidneyTexas
  • Mad Hatter's Tea
  • North Texas Giving Day
  • Texas Women's Foundation Annual Luncheon
  • Turtle Creek Park Conservancy
  • Women's Auxiliary of The Salvation Army Dallas Fashion Show And Luncheon
Copyright © 2010-2024 My Sweet Charity · Website Design by Shauna Callaghan