Heroes and Handbags x 2!!

Wow!! What an incredible two weeks it has been!! Preparing for our largest two fundraisers to occur within 10 days of each other is quite a feat!! Luckily, we have an amazing office staff, and two amazing event chairs, Elizabeth Gambrell in Dallas, and Mary Lou Fernandez in Houston. We are also blessed with a committee of dedicated, hardworking volunteers who work hard for over 10 months to make these events the huge successes that they are!
Houston Heroes and Handbags was held on Wednesday, March 26th at River Oaks Country Club. With a silent auction of over 160 handbags to bid on, the champagne was flowing and the 500 plus women (and a few lucky men) were in shopping heaven!!
Valobra donated a GORGEOUS custom designed diamond ring with two hearts on it, especially for Heroes for Children. The hearts representing Taylor and Allie. One lucky lady won the raffle and wore it home on her finger! What a prize!! Elaine Turner and her crew were there with a huge display of Elaine Turner bags up for grabs! As I cruised by the table, many of them had already been sold with the "buy it now" option!! No surprise, as her bags are gorgeous! They also had on hand the Taylor and Allie bags available for presale, with 50% of the sale going back to Heroes! All morning line the ladies were lined up to purchase these great bags! Also, we had a special treat and surprise as Chloe Dao, the Season Two winner from Project Runway showed up with one of her sisters! Jenny was thrilled as she is a HUGE Project Runway fan!!
As we moved into the dining room for brunch, we were treated to a moving and at times hilarious speech by Brian Moreno. Brian is one of our board members, and his son, Austin, is being treated for leukemia. Brian reminded the crowd that childhood cancer could happen to any of our kids, and rallied the ladies (and gents) to fill out their donor cards for Heroes for Children!!

Dallas Handbags was held last Friday, April 4th at The Hilton Anatole in Dallas. The wind, rain and cold weather did not deter the 700 plus ladies from making it to this hot ticket event!! Once again, the silent auction room was full with over 180 vintage and designer handbags all up for grabs! From Chanel to Valentino, the choices were endless! Once again, the ladies from Elaine Turner were on hand with a slew of beautiful bags up for auction. I believe over 60 orders were taken for Allie and Taylor bags too! After the auction ended, the group moved into the Chantilly Ballroom and were treated to the moving speech of Jennifer Houser. Jennifer has been very involved with Heroes for Children in many ways. She and her husband, Doug, are our honorary chairs of the event this year. She also serves on our advisory board, and was very involved with Heroes and Handbags this year. Jennifer's son, Ryan, was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2001. Jennifer shared Ryan's story of courage with us. Thankfully, Ryan is healthy and happy. He is a grad student at California State University and is engaged to be married next year. Once again, those in attendance were moved to make a donation and make a difference in the lives of children living with cancer. Another lucky lady won the gorgeous Matthew Trent wraught iron and diamond earrings in the raffle!

At both events we had the pleasure of having several of the families and their children that HFC has assisted there. These children are the reason we work so hard to fundraise for Heroes. They are our mission, and we were blessed to have them there. We also had many of the social workers in attendance. These two events will enable Heroes for Children to continue providing families with much needed financial assistance. Thanks to everyone who attended, i know a great time was had by all! (Hopefully you left with a new handbag on your arm too!) After a long nap, I think I will be ready to start planning for next year!