Texas School for the Deaf Foundation’s 8th Annual Diamond Gala was held on Thursday, May 8, 2014 at the Hilton Downtown Austin. The event was an overwhelming success! From our huge profits we are able to further our mission to give access to language and learning to the over 5000 deaf and hard of hearing students at TSD and throughout the state of Texas! Here are event details and highlights.
The sponsors and their guests were able to view the downtown Austin skyline in a special VIP reception prior to the Gala, where they were honored and given a small gift in appreciation of their enormous support of the TSD Foundation.
At 5:30, the doors to the ballroom opened, and our 240 guests were given the first look at the beautiful Boots and Bling Ballroom. The tables were decorated with blingy deep purple cowboy boots and “diamond” crystals in keeping with the theme. A silent auction of over 80 items greeted the guests as they entered the room.
Fun was had by dozens of partiers who tried their luck at the Kick up Your Heels Wheel of Fortune, where a gift card of up to $60 could be won for a $10 chance. A highlight for many blingers was the Kick Up Your Heels Photobooth! The Traveling Photo Booth guys brought out their booth and a fun variety of props for the guests to pose in for their pics!
Our guests were treated to an incredible four-course dinner with wine pairings provided by St. Michelle Winery. The delicious meal was prepared by the TSD Culinary Arts students under the direction of the Hilton Diamond Chef, Mark Dayanandan. Dinner was served by volunteers from the Hilton staff.
Russell Harvard, a TSD alumnus, entertained the crowd in 3 sets of fun interpretive music performances! All guests agreed that this was a highlight of the evening. Many thanks to Russell Harvard and his crew for providing fun for all!!
During the evening, guest could bid on the silent auction items, purchase a raffle ticket for the Americus Diamond necklace, bid on 3 great live auction packages, kick up their heels in paddles up for four TSD initiatives! These four fundraising opportunities gave the guests some fun options for supporting the TSD Foundation.
The TSD Foundation board and I want to thank each sponsor and guest for joining us for the 8th Annual Boots and Bling Diamond Gala! We appreciate the generosity of each of you and hope to see you next year for the 9th Annual Diamond Gala!