Furniture 4 Kids took place on February 19th at Sixty Five Hundred on Cedar Springs to raise ends for one of my favorite charities, Vogel Alcove. Creative teams had been given a plain wooden toy box and challenged to design and create a one-of-a-kind toy box that was judged and auctioned off the night of the event. Guests grazed a room filled with stations from Dallas' hottest restaurants, including Del Frisco's Steak House, Dragonfly from Hotel ZaZa, Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck, Nick & Sam's Steakhouse, Stephan Pyles and Start! Restaurant. Emcees LeeAnne Locken and Steve Kemble took over the stage and whipped bidders into a buying frenzy for these amazing one-of-a-kind creations. Bidders could bid to keep or ‘Bid-to-Donate’ to Vogel Alcove. This dynamic duo (along with a fantastic group of sponsors) helped to raise $75,000 for the event. The toy box aspect of this event is entirely fitting since Vogel Alcove is a local organization who's mission is to provide the youngest children of Dallas-area homeless families with the foundation for success. Private Jet and Zeppelin sponsors enjoyed impeccable cuisine by Celebrity Chef Lisa Garza, Owner-Operator at Sissy’s Southern Kitchen & Bar and Owner-Operator at Lisa Garza Taste Studio.
Awards were given out to the design teams for their creative efforts. Congrats to the winners: Best of Furniture 4 Kids: Studio F2 for their Star Wars-themed Snow Speeder Best Thematic Design: Benson Hlavaty for their Kanine Krunchies Theater Best Craftsmanship: MATCHUP for their Puzzle Box People's Choice: Dewberry for The Helicopter
Vogel Alcove CEO, Karen Hughes, had shared at the kickoff party earlier in the year that the average homeless person in Dallas County is a 22-year old single mom with 2 kids under the age of 6. And that almost half of our homeless population are women and kids and that 50% of those kids are under 6. And those are the faces of homelessness that Vogel Alcove serves. For 27 years, they have worked with other community partners to give these kids a safe, happy, secure place where they can come to learn, play and grow while their parents work with other agencies to receive training, education and assistance to get the family back on their feet and reintroduced into mainstream society. To learn how you can support the ongoing efforts of Vogel Alcove, visit www.vogelalcove.org.
Enjoy this photo gallery from the event. Click on any image to enlarge the photos and flip through the gallery.
photos: James Edwards
