While the seated dinner crowd was being wined and dine at the Dallas Arboretum’s A Tasteful Place for the 2019 Food and Wine Festival, Dallas After School‘s Recess guests were channeling their inner child on Friday, March 22.
It was hard to imagine that it had been less than eight years since Recess had started at the late Faye Briggs‘ estate, with the main focus on the luxury sandbox dig. Now look at all the very kid-oriented activities, like hula-hoops, Jenga and Skee Ball, that filled Rosine Hall and Ginsburg Place. The seventh annual event was not only sold out, but had as many as 275 young-at-heart guests playing painlessly to raise money. It was the fundraiser’s biggest gathering ever.
Immediately after arriving, guests were greeted by a Photo Trailer for selfies.
On the Plaza next to the tetherball was a Texas-sized billiard game (aka Soccer Pool). Instead of pool cues, guests kicked the white ball to get the colored balls in the pockets.
Inside the Hall that had been the site for lectures, lunches and fashion shows were video games, tables of silent auction items and a dance floor for a late-night game of musical chairs.
Early arrivals Anne and Terry Conner were talking about their son’s upcoming wedding in Santa Fe. Anne admitted that over the summer while handling bed-and-breakfast duties in Taos, she had gained a couple of pounds. To prepare for the wedding, she’s already lost five.
As for the Conners’ nonprofit activities, they were focusing their attention on education and healthcare programs like Dallas After School and the Baylor Health System Foundation Dallas, for which Terry is a board member.
Shortly after, Recess! Co-chairs Morgan Denton Katz and Lindsey Harrison kicked off the festivities indoors, where they were joined by more than 30 sponsors and host committee members including Janet and John Mockovciak, Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew, Giles Davidson and Dan Waldmann, Lisa and Mike Lewis and Pam and Mike Parmerlee. Partygoers enjoyed adult juice-boxes courtesy of Blk Eye Vodka, cafeteria-inspired food by Wolfgang Puck Catering and a plethora of games – all to benefit Dallas Afterschool. Other games for the evening included a sandbox filled with luxury prizes, pop-a-shot, Space Invaders, golf, and much more. The highlight of the evening was the playful yet fiercely competitive game of musical chairs, with Lisa Lewis crowned “queen of the schoolyard” for her win.
Attendees enjoyed schoolyard antics, then midway through the event, Dallas Afterschool Vice President of Development Sarah Elliott gathered the crowd including William Harvey, Gladys Calderon, Kelly Beach and Nancy Cope for a brief “school assembly.”
Elliott thanked attendees for embracing their inner child to return to the playground for an evening. She recognized Event Co-Chairs Morgan and Lindsey, Honorary Co-Chairs Susan Hoff and top sponsors The Baldridge Foundation and Velocis for ensuring the event’s success.
After that, Dallas Afterschool CEO Christina K. Hanger took a few minutes to share more about the organization’s mission to improve the quality and availability of after-school and summer programs in Dallas County. She emphasized the organization’s work with 175 after-school sites that impact more than 14,000 students annually. She went on to emphasize that, “Three hours a day truly makes a lifetime of difference.”
The 2019 Recess! sponsors were:
- Capture the Flag ($25,000) – The Baldridge Foundation
- Simon Says ($10,000) – Velocis
- Red Rover ($5,000+) – Baird, Anne and Terry Conner, Christina K. Hanger and Lyndon Cakerice, Janet and John Mockovciak and Stonelake Capital
- Duck Duck Goose ($2,500+) – Benchmark Title & Wealth Management, Kathi and Chris Child, Ernst & Young LLP, Michael and Katie Gagne, Cherri and Jack Musser, State Fair of Texas, Texas Capital Bank, Texas Instruments and Veritex
- Four Square ($1,000+) – Tre and Lauren Black, Cowboy Toyota, Maria and Douglas Cramer, John Collins, Morgan Denton Katz, Kristi and Brian Erickson, Amanda Helgamoe, Sydney Smith Hicks and Forrest Hicks, Susan and Steve Hoff, Potter Concrete, Serena Simmons Connelly, Christina and Mark Stevanovic, Underwood Interiors and Andrew D. Wilson
- Media Sponsor – Paper City.
* Photo credit: Andy Keye and Whitney Photography