parties

At Inaugural Ball, $1.7 Mil Worth of Wishes Are Granted

Daniel Ortiz and PWL Studio
At Inaugural Ball, $1.7 Mil Worth of Wishes Are Granted

John and Carly Whitehurst and Claudia and Brad Freels

THE FIRST-EVER Wish Ball was held at The Post Oak Hotel this month, benefiting the Make-A-Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana chapter.

The glam black-tie gala celebrated the chapter's 40th anniversary, and also honored Montgomery County residents Kay and Tommy Austin. The nonprofit's signature shades of blue and gold adorned the ballroom, where more than 750 guests enjoyed bubbly from the Champagne wall, a raffle of a Kim Chau & Company Fine Jewelers sapphire ring, and more.

Emcee Deborah Duncan led the evening's program, which included video messages from JJ Watt and Charles Barkley, each granting a young attendee a wish. The silent and live auctions were both exciting, the latter touting packages like a trip to the Country Music Awards, which sparked a bidding war that reached $30,000.

Speaking of the CMAs, one of the honorary chairs, Carly Whitehurst, noted that 2024 marks the 10-year anniversary of her granted wish to attend the CMAs. She and her fellow event chairs were thrilled with the evening's total till of a whopping $1.7 million.

Ashley and Jonathan Sloan

Tony and Frances Buzbee

Ben and Bethany Buchanan

Tommy and Kay Austin

Brian and Jennifer Rayburn

Teri and Jim Andrepont and Shelly Millwee

Brian Ching and Lindsey Yates

Stephanie and Thomas Hatfield

Brice and Maryann Mannen

Ryan and Holly Lambert

Edgar and Alejandra Rincon

Ron and Christy Phillips

Jason Salas and Lacy Dalcour Salas

Richmond Webb and Dan Pastorini

Jennifer and Alan Rosen

Paula and Bruce Jefferies

Jeston Adams and Raj Sheth

Norman and Donna Lewis

Lyndsay and Matt Pennebaker

Michael Vanderhider

Mandy Williams and Jonathan Goldsmith

Marian Harper and Rita Shuma

Mark Wawro and Melanie Gray

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Parties
parties

'Mission: Pawsible' Party Fetches a Million Bucks for Animal Rescue

Daniel Ortiz and Jacob Power

Ben Racusin, Mica Piro, Bailey Blocker, Brian Reynolds

CITIZENS FOR ANIMAL Protection (CAP) brought out the big dogs for its annual Celebrity Paws gala, which this year adopted a theme of Mission: Pawsible. Event chairs Jody Merritt and Christine Johnson accomplished a fantastic mission of raising $875,000, and are pledging to round up the final amount to a million dollars, all going toward CAP's shelter, rescue and adoption efforts.

Keep Reading Show less
Parties
coolest people

Wear It Well! Check Out This Movable — and Giftable — Art by Photographer Libbie Masterson

Masterson's frocks are made from prints fashioned from her nature photographs.

THEY SAY A picture is worth a thousand words, and in the case of artist Libbie Masterson, her storied collection of global and Houston-centric photographs does the talking — on apparel and accessories, that is.

Art for Wear is Masterson’s new fashion line, in which her professional landscape photographs are printed on various fabrics and finished as wearable art, clothing and accessories. Her collection includes an artistic line of women’s dresses, light wraps, tunics, purses and various unisex bags splashed with her iconic photography. Love Houston’s South Boulevard? There’s a dress for that. Always on the move? She has a yoga mat and the backpack of your dreams!

Keep Reading Show less
Art+Culture