Cute Champagne-Sipping Crowd Gathers at River Oaks Home to Kick Off Handmade Hope Gala

Cute Champagne-Sipping Crowd Gathers at River Oaks Home to Kick Off Handmade Hope Gala

Tiffany LaRose; Adam Greer; Brooke Bentley Gunst

ANOTHER LATE-SUMMER successful kickoff event bodes well for a busy fall social season ahead — even amid Delta fears.


A beautiful River Oaks home was the site of a party kicking off Homemade Hope's "Home Is Where the Heart Is Gala." Brooke Bentley Gunst and her husband Jeff Gunst opened hosted a chic and breezy "indoor-outdoor event … in anticipation of Homemade Hope's annual fundraising event," explained a rep for the event's organizers.

A good-looking crowd, undaunted by soaring temps, and dressed in colorful late-summer frocks and just-before-Labor-Day whites, also sipped Champagne, enjoyed a wine tasting and noshed on charcuterie.

The gala for Homemade Hope — which nurtures and empowers homeless children living in Houston-area shelters, teaching them how to cook nutritious foods, developing their life skills and providing them with emotional and academic support, per the org's mission statement — will take place Oct. 8 at River Oaks Country Club. The gala will have a unique spin: options for indoor or outdoor seating.

Spotted at the kickoff: Blair Bentley, Schuyler Evans, Adam Greer, Brooke Bentley Gunst and Jeff Gunst, Scarlett and Scott Hankey, Tiffany LaRose, Margot Delaronde Marcell and Josh Marcell, Lila Sharifian, and Lisa and Dennis Woods.

Kelly and Sina Fahrtash

Dennis and Lisa Woods

Claudia and Shane Philips; Vina Nichols

Jeff and Brooke Gunst

Lila Sharifian and Omid Sharifian

Michelle and Mike Mann; Margot Delaronde Marcell and Josh Marcell

Nillie Shoukry, Shannon Smith, Tiffany LaRose

Scott and Scarlett Hankey

Young Son; Gabriela Bahlo

Parties
Leadership in Action: Entrepreneur Saba Syed of Moroccan Bath Determined to Build ‘Lasting Legacy’

Saba Syed, Founder of Oasis Moroccan Bath

How did you get to where you are today? My journey began with a need to be financially independent and an even a deeper drive to create a lasting legacy. The centuries-old Hammam tradition has always fascinated me—not just for its relaxation benefits, but for its holistic approach to cleansing the body, mind, and soul. So, combining my passion with a vision to bring an authentic yet luxurious Hammam spa experience to Houston, I took the leap less than two years ago to open my own spa.

Keep Reading Show less

The Cottages at the Boat Basin

THERE'S A REASON that many Houstonians glorify a quaintly picturesque life on Nantucket. Actually, there are several: a storied history, charming shops, cobblestone streets, impossibly fresh oysters (and need we even mention the weather?).

Keep Reading Show less
People + Places

Jacob Hilton, a.k.a. Travid Halton, at home in his kitchen, where he enjoys cooking as a form of therapy.

PINK FLOYD'S THE Wall. Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours. Beyonce’s Lemonade. Three divergent examples of the album as a cathartic, psychological, conceptual work, meant to be experienced in a single sitting. Houston singer-songwriter Jacob Hilton, 37, who records as Travid Halton, a portmanteau of his mother and father’s names, might balk at being mentioned in such company. (This is a thoroughly unpretentious man, who describes himself as an “archaeologist turned singer-songwriter.”)

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment