Power of the Purse

Heroes for Children is proud to announce the final totals of Heroes and Handbags 2008! Our Houston event raised a total of $329,000, and the Dallas event held one week later raised $332,000! With a combined total of $661,000, Heroes and Handbags was a tremendous success!

Ladies and handbags really is the perfect combination, don't you think? Thank you to all the special people that made this event happen. We are very grateful to have such incredible supporters behind the organization to help create such success events such as these two.

The best part about raising so much? Helping families like this sweet little girl's, Morgan. Worth every minute of planning.

Photos courtesy of Brett Chisholm Photography

April Volunteer of the Month

Please excuse our tardiness on this post regarding this month's Volunteer of the Month. Heroes and Handbags was all consuming! Luckily, we had volunteers like Danielle to help throughout the time! I'm so excited to share this months volunteer, Danielle Soffa, with our readers. Danielle has recently started volunteering on a consistent basis with the staff at Heroes for Children. I've gotten used to seeing her in the office every Monday morning at the volunteer computer in our workroom assisting with post event wrap details. We've had her alphabetizing, entering data, and sorting handbags. She's done it all with a smile! Besides her office volunteer time, she has also joined the Heroes for Children 5K Run/Walk committee with the Logistics groups. It's Danielle's job to make sure that we have enough snacks and goodies at the event. Not a small feat for an expected crowd of 1,500 participants, but she'll do great!

Name, Age, Occupation:

Danielle Soffa, 30, mom and wife

How did you get involved with HFC?

I followed Allie's story from very early on. I read Jenny's daily updates and was amazed by her strength and courage. I thought of Allie often and prayed for a miracle. When HFC was started I had 2 small children but I knew I wanted to get involved so when both my kids started going to preschool, I vowed to get involved and started volunteering weekly in the HFC office.

Do you have any kids and/or pets?

I have 2 wonderful kids, Brayden 5 and Kennedy 3, and two mischievous dogs.

From looking at you, no one would guess that…..

Something about me you won’t know is that I have complete 3 sprint distance triathlons and a marathon.

Favorite place to eat:

Anywhere that serves macaroni and cheese to make my kids happy so that I can enjoy my meal...I don't get out kid-less much ;)

What’s on your book shelf?

Everything written by Nicholas Sparks, The Official Guide to Walt Disney World, To Kill a Mockingbird and My Sister's Keeper by Judi Picoult will be there soon once I finish reading it.

What’s in your iPod/CD changer?

Lots of country music...Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and then a mix of others...Home by Daughtry, Bubbly by Colbie Caillat, Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, a few American Idol downloads and my most recent addition...I'm a Little Teapot (Kennedy's dance recital song).

Who’s your hero?

My hero is my sister-in-law Tracy. She is a full-time teacher as well as a professional triathlete. Just hearing her training schedule tires me out but she gets up at 4am every morning to train and then finishes what she didn’t get to after teaching all day. Her dedication, strength, endurance, courage, and charisma inspire me daily. And the fact that she puts up with my brother is a feat in itself!

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!

The Real HEROES for Children

(Photo courtesy of Brett Chisholm Photography)

When I was a middle school teacher, people often commented, "I don't know how you do what you do." Of course, they were referring to the drama of working with adolescents, that strange age of 12-14 year olds. One day they liked chocolate ice cream, the next day they hated it. I would chuckle and tell them that it truly wasn't so bad. They were fun, in their own way.

However, I have often thought this same thought when it comes to the medical social workers I have encountered in my job with Heroes for Children. How do they do it? I don't know how they do what they do. How do they work with some of the sickest children in our country each and every day? How do they interact with the parents with the compassion that always seem to come across in their voice? They must be angels. Or possibly heroes. Yes, that must be it. They are heroes.

Did you know that March is National Social Work month? I didn't know that before I got in this career. But I sure do now! One of the joys of my job each day is the daily interaction with the hospital social workers. Check out our ladies at the top of this page (our models--social workers from Texas Children's Hospital--Mital, Bonnie, Arlene, and Jennifer--love these ladies!). When they enter a patient room, they provide so much more then the forms for financial assistance or resources for cancer patients. They bring hope, understanding, and comfort to these families during their darkest times.

I get calls from social workers every day to discuss what we can do for a patient. They champion for their patients and the parents to make sure that those in need receive the resources they deserve through the various community resources available (HFC being one of those). They work tirelessly for their families and treat them all with love and compassion.

They are the real heroes for children. And I am a better person for knowing the many social workers at all the hospitals we work with.

Heroes for Children is honored to work with the social workers at the following hospitals:

• Medical City Children's Hospital of Dallas
• Children's Medical Center of Dallas
• Cook Children's Medical Center of Ft. Worth
• Christus Santa Rosa Hospital of San Antonio
• MD Anderson Cancer Center of Houston
• Texas Children's Cancer Center of Houston

Thank you, ladies. I'm honored to know you all.

The Perfect Handbag

Elaine Turner is an amazing, generous woman with a heart of gold. Oh yeah, she also happens to be an extremely talented handbag designer!! Elaine has been involved with Heroes for Children since last year, and has played a huge part of Heroes and Handbags. Last year Elaine attended the events in both Dallas and Houston, and her Northpark store hosted our wrap party. She also donated alot of gorgeous Elaine Turner handbags !! This year, she is even more involved and has gone so far to design .....(drum roll, please......) an ALLIE BAG and a TAYLOR BAG!!! The Taylor bag is a gorgeous red bag, (yes, red was Taylor's favorite color!!) The darling yellow bag is the Allie bag!!
Elaine and her FAB team have also announced that they will be donating 50% of the sales of the Allie and Taylor bag back to HFC on the day of the Heroes and Handbags events!! (March 26th and April 4th!!) Let us know if you want one! These are great bags!! We also just had a couple of great photoshoots with Elaine's handbags and SHOES that were posted in a previous blog!!
Thanks to Elaine, Heather and everyone at Elaine Turner for having such a huge heart for HFC!!!

March Volunteer of the Month

Houston Heroes and Handbags is a little over three weeks away. The tables are bought, the handbags are still being donated, and decorations are being finalized. And in preparation for all the ladies to be seated at the brunch, Page Motes is ready to work. Page is our Reservations Chair for Houston Handbags, serving in her second year as this year. A working mom of two, Page still finds time to volunteer. As a working mom of only one, I find this fact amazing! Finding extra time to do a large part in a very large event isn't easy. And yet, Page doesn't complain. She works hard, and juggles her hectic schedule with such ease (or at least that's what it looks like to an outsider). I'm so proud to have her on our team!

Name, Age, Occupation:
Page Motes, 37, VP of Business Development for Gerson Lehrman Group


How did you get involved with HFC?
A friend of mine, Laura Macicek, invited me to an party to introduce Heroes for Children to the Houston area. I was incredibly moved by Jenny and Larissa’s stories and HFC’s mission. I felt it was not only an amazing organization, but I felt an instant connection with Jenny and Larissa and knew it was the place for me!


Do you have any kids and/or pets?
Two fantastic boys – Sutton, age 5 and Spencer, 8 mos. They’re the light of my life!


Favorite place to eat:
Less fancy – Cyclone Anaya’s (can’t live without queso, guacamole – oh and margaritas!)
Fancy – Bob’s Chop House (I’m a meat eater – what can I say???)


What’s on your book shelf?
A diverse selection – everything from “The McKinsey Way” (business/consulting book), “HOW” (which was recently written and released by my former CEO, and “What To Expect in the First Year” (to look up those weird baby illness symptoms) to the latest from Jennifer Weiner (she rocks!)


What’s in your iPod/CD changer?
I’m a HUGE music person with really diverse tastes. I’ve got old Depeche Mode and The Cure, Andrea Bocelli, The Black Eyed Peas, Vivaldi, and even some old school rock with the Scorpions!


Who’s your hero?
Although she’d never really believe it, it’s definitely my mother. She’s spent her entire life caring for others and often putting herself last. She’d tell me today to look out for myself more than she did, but I admire her uncontrollable urge to jump in and help make things better. She was a teacher for 36 years and just retired not too long ago. Her old students STILL look her up and tell her how much she changed their lives for the better. I only pray I could have a fraction of the effect on others that she does!

Houston Generosity

When asked for help with our Laptops for Love campaign, supporters at the Underwriting Party and Live Auction in Houston last night responded. Laptops for Love purchases new laptops for teens living in the hospital with cancer. These teens face isolation with days, weeks, and often months in the hospital. Friends are often not admitted into their hospital room due to the risk of infection and germs. Most take an extended leave from school, continuing their work through a homebound teacher.

For a young child, this isolation isn't as challenging as it is for teenagers. Take my daughter for example. A baby diagnosed with cancer at four months old doesn't notice that only grandparents and parents could visit her. She loved her Grandma and Nana and was thrilled to have them see her on an even more frequent basis. She didn't mind that her hair had all fallen out and only had whisps of hair left. She didn't get bored (or if she did, she couldn't tell me) from months at the hospital. But I can't imagine what that experience would have been like if she had been fourteen at diagnosis and not four months old.

Keeping laptops in stock is a challenge for us. They are in high demand! Laptops provided have helped seniors finish high school, give young teens an outlet with things like MySpace and Facebook to keep them occupied, and almost fifty teenagers found hope through this program in 2007. So, last night, I posed the question to a room full of generous supporters during our big party to prepare for the main event--"Who wants to make the difference for one teen tonight?"

Can you believe that we "sold" THIRTY laptops last night?? Thirty more teenagers will receive this gift of hope and love from Heroes for Children. I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this is! We're well on our way to doubling our gifts to teens in 2007 to provide 100 laptops (we began with an inventory of 32 to purchase).

38 more laptops to sell and we can begin working on setting up a new goal.