Showing posts with label catholic charities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catholic charities. Show all posts

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Catholic Charities Celebration of Hope 2011 Gala

The 2011 Catholic Charities Celebration of Hope Gala at the Muehlbach Hotel Grand Ballroom was a SMASH HIT last night, November 5th. This is one Kansas City charity group that knows how to party! The ballroom was donned with a simplistic yet elegant decor and guests dined while watching a slideshow of sponsors and programs that are a big part of the Catholic Charities charity organization.

The Celebration of Hope 2011 Gala featured a delicious dinner, incredible works of art including pieces by Kansas City artist Bill Drummond, who's artwork was displayed throughout the ballroom and foyer. After dinner, the charity event and auction raised in the neighborhood of $200,000 towards the charity which helps the community in numerous ways (see below for more specific information about the Catholic Charities of Kansas City). The evening was capped off with entertainment from Kansas City's Dueling Piano act Roll Over Beethoven sponsored by Adam Blue Productions. The dueling pianos had everyone up and dancing early and all of guests had a great time. The dueling piano guys got all of the ladies up on the stage to sing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and they did a great job! Then Joe Kelly was coaxed up on the stage to be a "human trumpet" during a Johnny Cash song and then "Sweet Caroline".

More information on the Catholic Charities of Kansas City

Mission
Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph responds to the gospel mandate by caring for the vulnerable, honoring the life and dignity of all persons, and engaging the community in providing compassionate social services and advocacy.

Vision
Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph lives as a Gospel witness in the community, caring for all in need and pursuing just ways for the common good.

Interesting Facts

- Since 1879, Catholic Charities of Kansas City - St. Joseph, Inc., has touched the lives of thousands of individuals and families by providing social services regardless of race, gender, economic or religious background.

- Catholic Charities in Kansas City, Missouri, was founded in 1879.

- Although named Catholic Charities, more than 75% of those served are not of Catholic faith.

- Catholic Charities served more than 200,000 individuals in 2009-10 with food, shelter, and utilities along with hope-filled services of more than 60 community-focused programs.

- Catholic Charities administrative and fundraising costs are impressively among the lowest in the region, with more than 90 cents of every dollar directly helping someone in need.

- Catholic Charities continues to earn an aggregate client satisfaction score of more than 98% in its annual Continued Quality Improvement assessments.

- Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph is accredited through the Council on Accreditation, a comprehensive process by which an organization completes a thorough self-study and on-site review by trained Peer Reviewers. Catholic Charities has achieved this highest recognition for delivering quality child and family services, behavioral healthcare services, and community support and education services that comply with nationally recognized standards of best practice.

- Catholic Charities-USA is the nation's largest private network of social service agencies.

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.

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