St. Jude's Inaugural Gold Luncheon Honors Houston Families

Families at St. Jude’s never receive a bill. This has been the mission for the organization and to sustain this vision St. Jude’s hosted its first inaugural luncheon to raise funds, and honor a few outstanding philanthropic families along with a fashion soiree.

Houston’s most philanthropic families came together during the St. Jude Gold Luncheon to celebrate the lifesaving mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on Friday June 2, 2017 at the Hilton Post Oak. This inaugural luncheon honored Brigitte and Bashar Kalai, Duyen and March Nguyen, Tracy and Harry Faulkner, and Dr. Sippi and Ajay Khurana. These families were being recognized for their philanthropic efforts in the community. Event Chair, Sneha Merchant, and Carolyn Farb, Honorary Chair, helped raise $73,239 for the kids of St. Jude.

It was a fashionable afternoon with ladies dressed to the nine in Valentino, Louboutins, and Cartier bracelets while enjoying a three-course meal, silent auction, and an exclusive fashion show by Designer Nha Khanh and inspiring St. Jude patient stories. Designer Nha Khanh donated her time and talent to showcase a 40-piece collection to kick-off the event. The show stopper moment for the event was St. Jude patient, Marley, walking the runway hand in hand with Nha Khanh and patient mom, Megan, who shared her BRAVE story and encouraged guests to continue supporting the mission of St. Jude.

Treatments developed at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing and food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

Spotted at the luncheon: Mandy Kao, Yasmine Haddad, Katherine Lee, Gina Gaston, Emcees Joy Sewing and Todd Ramos, Andy Cordes, Lisa Powers, Anika Jackson, Dena Wrinkler, Alice Mao, and Tammy Tran Nguyen. To learn more, visit stjude.org.

Photo Credit: www.reinaldomedina.com and Quy Tran Photography