Catherine D. Anspon | Photos by Pete Baatz, John Lewis
- Posted:
- June 26, 2012
- Event Date:
- February 04, 2012
Sometimes less is more. What can you say about Houston’s biggest benefit ever? In every sense of the word, it was one for the record books. We were there: an outrageous, fun fund-raising example of extraordinary philanthropy set to the greatest disco hits of all time, performed by the headliners who made them famous. Can you guess how much moolah was raised at the George R. Brown Convention Center at the Evening with Disco Legends benefitting Texas Children’s Cancer Center? Not a mere $2 million, nor $5 or 10 million. Still more. Even $20 million would be too low. The final figure was an astounding $32.26 million for game-changing pediatric cancer research, of which half ($16-some million) came from The Lester and Sue Smith Foundation, which matched dollar for dollar every contribution made. Chairmen Sue and Lester Smith (he, a survivor who has triumphed after dozens of cancer surgeries; she, having lost her sister to breast cancer) took to the dance floor to their own tune, “I Will Survive,” moments after the presentation of the big check.
“You gotta dance like no one’s watching!” — chair Lester Smith
Side A: The Talent
Gloria Gaynor * The Pointer Sisters * Nile Rodgers
Late night — DJ Ultragrrrl
Side B: We Are Family
Legends event co-founder Emily Crosswell and husband Holcombe
Texas Children’s prez and CEO Mark Wallace and wife Shannon
Texas Children’s Cancer Center director Dr. David Poplack
Wells Fargo honcho Chip Carlisle and wife Susan
TCCC advisory board prez Steven Arnold
Party impresario Richard Flowers, who devised the dazzling disco-rama
Indrani and Hemant Goradia
Cynthia and Tony Petrello
Beth Madison
Linda and Lawrence Levy
Jonathan and Amy Homeyer
Curing Children’s Cancer Fund’s Rob Ferguson and wife Sarah Lee
GHBA, Newmark Homes and David Weekly’s Mark Welch, Peter Houghton and Seth Tobey
Mother’s Against Cancer prez Donna Lewis
Snowdrop Foundation’s Trish and Kevin Kline
Kelli and John Weinzierl
Sybil Roos
Trish and Rock Morille