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

Mercy Renteria (Photo courtesy of Undebel Flamenco)

RING IN THE new year a bit early at Queensbury Theatre near CityCentre. On Dec 30, the Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra (ECHO) presents Dance the Night Away — an exciting evening of Spanish and Spanish-tinged music, including works by Isaac Albéniz and Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona y Casado; selections from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (Have you seen Maestro yet?); dances from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker; and a special performance on the second half of the program by Houston-based, internationally recognized flamenco dancer, Mercy Renteria.

Keep Reading Show less
Food

One Fifth closed in 2022; a new concept will open in the space in 2025. (photo by Julie Soefer)

IT'S ONE OF the most iconic restaurant buildings in town, having once been the home to Mark's American Cuisine and, most recently, Chris Shepherd's groundbreaking rotating concept One Fifth, which closed in January 2022. Now, we know what's next for the cathedral at the corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy.

Keep Reading Show less
Food