{"id":346443,"date":"2026-06-23T02:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346443\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T02:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:05:15","slug":"houstons-party-season-goes-out-in-style-a-2-million-night-2027s-new-women-of-distinction-and-saturday-night-live-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/346443\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston’s Party Season Goes Out In Style \u2014 A $2 Million Night, 2027’s New Women of Distinction and Saturday Night Live Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston party season isn\u2019t really over until the last of the charitable events tally their results and tout their successes. Congratulations are certainly due to Blood Cancer United for the $2 million it raised as well as to the sensational 2027 Women of Distinction, who were revealed in a celebration at River Oaks Country Club.<\/p>\n

Tootsies has launched a program series on women\u2019s health benefiting Legacy Community Health. And Saturday Night Live alum Colin Quinn kept Family Houston supporters in stitches.<\/p>\n

These are the Houston parties that sent the season out in style:<\/p>\n

Blood Cancer United Celebrates
\n\"ClaudiaClaudia Walkup, Jose Mota, Peri Patel at the Blood Cancer United Visionaries of the Year gala<\/p>\n

The Blood Cancer United<\/a> Visionaries of the Year Grand Finale gala celebrated a record-breaking campaign year with 18 candidates raising an unprecedented $2,010,769 to support blood cancer research and patient services. Peri Patel and Claudia Walkup chaired the event held at Houston\u2019s posh Post Oak Hotel.<\/p>\n

The evening culminated with the reveal of 2026 Visionary of the Year was won by Meredith Crockett Soper of Transwestern,<\/a> who raised an incredible $337,486. Kyle Sanders of Gray Reed<\/a> was named runner-up in raising $330,201. Peggy Nobel earned second runner-up status, raising $265,013.<\/p>\n

The 2027 Women of Distinction Step Forward
\n\"KelleyKelley Sullivan Georgiades, Sandra Porter, Dr. Erin Furr Stimming, Leisa Holland Nelson Bowman, Saula Valente, Michelle Budinger Maresh, Deborah Dunkum at the Women of Distinction reveal party. (Photo by Wilson Parish)<\/p>\n

They thought it was a midday interview at River Oaks Country Club. In reality, the 10 Houston women who showed up found out\u00a0 that they had been named the 2027 Women of Distinction to be formally presented during the Winter Ball at the Post Oak Hotel on February 13, 2027.<\/p>\n

Taking bows will be Deborah Dunkum, Kelley Sullivan Georgiades, Mignon Gill, Michelle Budinger Maresh, Sandra Porter, Erin Furr Stimming, Saula Valente\u00a0and Laura Williams. Alumni honorees Leisa Holland Nelson Bowman and Leigh Smith will be recognized as Ambassadors for their ongoing community leadership and service.<\/p>\n

Since its founding 1986 years ago the Winter Ball has raised more than $25 million for the Crohn\u2019s & Colitis Foundation, Southern Texas Chapter<\/a>. Robin Klaes and her daughter Kittsie Klaes Hance\u00a0chair the black-tie gala which is expected to be phenomenal due to the impressive anniversary.<\/p>\n

A Profound Evening of Laughter
\n\"SaturdaySaturday Night Live alumnus Colin Quinn entertains at Family Houston\u2019s dinner evening<\/p>\n

Laughter and purpose made a powerful pair at Family Houston<\/a>\u2018s second annual Laughing Matters Gala headlining comedian, actor and Saturday Night Live alumnus Colin Quinn. While keeping the audience truly in stitches, Quinn and chairs Kristen Wong and Nick Dhesi saw the evening raise close to $650,000 to support mental health counseling, financial stability coaching and community support services for families and individuals across Greater Houston.<\/p>\n

Joan and David Dunlap were spotlighted as\u00a0 Community Service Honorees while Revenew International was recognized as Corporate Honoree before 400 supporters at The Revaire.<\/p>\n

A Series on Women\u2019s Health
\n\"MarkMark Rivers, Chree Boydstun, Fady Armanious at Tootsies\u2019 premier \u2018Radiance\u2019 luncheon (Photo by Daniel Ortiz)<\/p>\n

With Canyon Ranch CEO Mark Rivers\u00a0as guest speaker, Tootsies had a grand launch of its Radiance Luncheon Series benefiting Legacy Community Health. Rivers shared details of the new Canyon Ranch Austin<\/a> and informed that women\u2019s health initiatives will be a major focus of the property.<\/p>\n

Legacy Community Health chief development & external affairs officer Chree Boydstun emceed the gathering and commented on the need for comprehensive health care for women of all ages and the continued need for new developments and treatments that support women. She was joined by Dr. Erica Giwa<\/a>, OB\/GYN physician at Legacy Santa Clara.<\/p>\n

Before the luncheon, attendees enjoyed cocktails and shopping while models informally showcased the latest collection from Christy Lynn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Toasting Dress For Success
\n\"MorganMorgan Shin, Jay Landa, Daniel Turner, Becca Wright at Dress for Success Houston\u2019s PowHER Hour dinner fundraiser (Photo by Daniel Ortiz)<\/p>\n

Seventy-seven companies across the Houston area were represented at the Four Seasons Hotel, when a professional throng gathered for Dress for Success Houston<\/a>\u2018s sixth annual PowHER Hour wine pairing dinner. Many among the group were members of DFS Houston Corporate Guild. The evening began in The Mocksy Bar for a \u201csip around the world\u201d experience, then continued on to dinner in the hotel ballroom.<\/p>\n

DFS Houston president Lauren Levicki Courville led the fundraiser that included a presentation on the viability of the Texas wine industry by Claire Richardson, wine maker at Uplift Vineyard<\/a> in Burnet, Texas. Richardson and Four Seasons Hotel executive chef Jonathan Esparza led a three-course wine pairing dinner.<\/p>\n

Scroll through the photo carousel at the top of this story for more images from these memorable Houston parties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston party season isn\u2019t really over until the last of the charitable events tally their results and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-346443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}