Monday, January 17, 2011

Snow Ball Catholic Charities of Kansas City 37th Gala

Catholic Charities of Kansas hosts 37th Annual Snow Ball at The Hyatt Regency
by Kansas City News

Well, let's start by pointing out the obvious. We attended the Snow Ball this year and found ourselves in a room full of over 1500 people...and they were almost all...well, white. There is nothing wrong with this in theory except the cover of the Catholic Charities website has two minority children pictured front and center. It is great that the group is helping out the underprivileged families in our community, but it's a little ironic that their fundraiser, appropriately called the "Snow Ball" didn't have more than a handful of minorities in attendance. In fact, one of the only minorities in the room was on the stage looking like she was half dead...

The black female lead singer of what was billed as "The Karen Davis Project" was definitely not Karen Davis, unless she put on about 150 pounds and aged 30 years overnight. This lady, whoever she was put on absolutely NO show and stood motionless and expressionless throughout the band's lackluster performance. The fact that this woman was so boring was made even worse by a live video feed that plastered her dead-like face on several giant video screens around the ballroom. The female singer wasn't the only problem, the band was cheesy and generic and they made desperate attempts at performing some modern hits when it was clear that they were far too old to pull those songs off (average age of the band members was around 55 years old). There's nothing cool or "hip" about a 55 year old guy playing a little toy looking keyboard with two fingers attempting to recreate a Lady Gaga song - then add the dead looking female singer (not moving at all) trying to sing the song. This band was a train wreck. Another band came on after this band - they were called Four Fried Chickens and a Coke - but pretty much the minute they took the stage the crowd was leaving the event. The Snow Ball has been using the same tired old entertainment for years and many of the attendees left as soon as they got a look at the band.

The attendees of the Snow Ball by Kansas Catholic Charities obviously represent the "old money" in Kansas City and we interviewed a few of them as they were exiting the event. Some actually walked by with their noses in the air and wouldn't acknowledge us at all, while others gave generic answers to our questions while staring coldly ahead, never making eye contact. I suppose that paying money to attend an event like Snow Ball counts for their "kindness" contribution to Kansas City, and they can pretty much go back to acting like stuck up royalty when it's over. The Catholic Charities as an organization may not be racist, but isn't it odd that in a room full of 1500 people in Kansas City we were hard pressed to find more than three or four minorities? Hmmmm....

Snow Ball - yep, that's what it was alright.

Catholic Charities is a great organization that helps out thousands of children in need, and we actually donate to their charity each year, but the Snow Ball just seemed a little over the top - almost as if the entire neighborhood of Hallbrook (which is where we live also) showed up to attend. I suppose in hindsight, not many minorities could afford to pay the ticket price to get in to Snow Ball, except maybe the Chiefs players.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Catholic Charities Snowball

You guys got that impression too huh? We attend many KC charity events every year and you're right, The Snow Ball's entertainment choice is always the worst. It has really run it's course.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, the band this year was terrible. Cheesy old white guys and a half dead female singer, it was atrocious to say the least. Good food though! Although we could have just gone up to the Skies Restaurant for that...

Anonymous said...

Yes, the other charity galas have stepped up their entertainment and the Catholic Charities Snow Ball should do the same. The age of the average attendee is getting younger and they should hire entertainment that appeals to a younger age group. The older guests leave early anyway.

Charity Gala Entertainment said...

It seems that some of these older charity groups tend to hire the same two bands every year - The Karen Davis old people band, and the Boulevard Old People band, they really need to move on with the addition of younger members and get a fresh band for these galas or the younger members are going to stop attending.

Anonymous said...

What's the chip on KC News shoulder? There are a lot of good people with deep pockets just trying to help out a good cause.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I agree with this article. Although they shouldn't just pick on the Snow Ball, in fact most charity functions in Kansas City are very pompous and while yes, they are supporting great causes, it just doesn't seem like true charity when the center pieces on the tables cost $180 apiece.

The Snow Ball by Catholic Charities is definitely the worst as far as being an all white, stuck up membership base, but there are a lot of other charity organizations in Kansas City guilty of the same arrogance.

Anonymous said...

What is arrogant about raising money for those in need? The center pieces are donated by underwriters and the people attending could have just stayed home, order pizza and kept their money in their pockets,

Anonymous said...

Stop defending this organization's attendees - they don't mind donating money to poor minorities but they sure as hell don't want them sitting next to them at a fancy dinner. It's just like KU fans, they love watching their precious minority basketball players who can't even spell or form a complete sentence, but they don't care as long as KU wins. And again, they wouldn't want them sitting next to them in the stands.

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