The gals were busy, busy Thursday, April 24. No, they were white gloving it and sipping tea and munching cucumber sandwiches . . . not by a long shot. And then there was the party-hearty crowd celebrating the opening day of the John Wayne Film Festival at Gilley’s with Pat Green on stage. Yahoo, baby!
Camp Bette Perot Aquatic Center Groundbreaking
It’s been a long time in the planning, but the best things don’t happen overnight. As Colleen Walker concludes her final days as CEO of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, she helped GSNETX CFO Debbie Roling and the project architects officially break ground for the Camp Bette Perot Aquatic Center in Anderson County.
Colleen Walker and Debbie Roling*
While the pool will be finished just in time for June activities, the entire aquatic center won’t be finished until September.
Thanks to the Perot Foundation’s gift of $1.2M in 2012, the center is “aimed at continuing the transformation of a fully comprehensive camp.”
Leadership Forum and Award Dinner
Presented by AT&T, the annual Dallas Women’s Foundation celebrated the 2014 Maura Women Helping Women Award and Young Leader recipients at its Leadership Forum and Award Dinner. Held in the Trinity Ballroom of the Omni Dallas Hotel, the Maura Awards were bestowed on Debbie Dudley Branson, Lauren Embry, Helen Holman, Retta Miller and Gauthami Vemula.
The Young Leader Award, that was created just last year, was awarded to Dr. Myiesha Taylor and Brittany Merrill Underwood.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Ping Fu, who rose to fame for software programming and was named Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year. As part of the initial NCSA Mosaic team that became Netscape, she went on to help launch Geomagic, a company that is involved with everything from personalizing prosthetic limbs to repairing NASA spaceships.
Soup’s On! Check Presentation
January and its chilly weather requiring simmering soup seems like an age ago. Since the Soup’s On! luncheon at the Omni with the knock-out speaker Liz Murray, the bean counters have been burning up their abacuses.
Bruce Buchanan, Tonya Meier, Gail Davis and Sarah Leverett Charbonnet**
It was well-worth the wait. A check for $340,000 was presented to The Stewpot Alliance’s Rev. Dr. Bruce Buchanan and Alliance President Tonya Meier and another one for $60,000 was given to the Encore Project.
The handovers took place at Susie Simon’s home with Luncheon Co-Chairs Gail Davis and Sarah Leverett Charbonnet sporting the biggest smiles in the room.
Plans are already underway for the 2015 luncheon that will be co-chaired by Anne Besser and Jackie Moore. Plan on soup at the Omni on Friday, January 30.
* Photo provided by Girls Scouts of Northeast Texas ** Photo provided by Soup's On! luncheon committee