Late last month, Queen Elizabeth, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rosie the Riveter, Frida Kahlo, and Wonder Woman convened in the ultra-glamorous Post Oak Hotel ballroom to play a rousing eight rounds of bingo. At a nearby table sat a bevy of Audrey Hepburns; at another, Dr. Seuss characters sipped champagne.
That is to say, the 250 guests at the second annual Lucky for Literacy Bubbles and Bingo Luncheon took their respective tables’ costume themes very seriously, and for good reason: There was, after all, a “best-dressed” award at stake.
It went to the ladies of table 10—Arielle Lawson and guests—all dressed as iconic women throughout history. Others claimed fabulous prizes through their own sheer luck, as round after round of bingo singled out the luckiest in the bunch who nabbed David Yurman rings, designer bags, and Pilates classes.
With white tablecloth dining, pink champagne, and matching daubers beneath glittering chandeliers, this was hardly your grandma’s bingo game. In fact, the afternoon raised $85,000 for iWRITE Literacy Organization, the local nonprofit that serves economically disadvantaged schools in Houston and Spring Branch ISD. The luncheon’s proceeds benefit iWRITE’s annual programing for children’s literacy, including creative writing and publishing workshops in Houston schools that allow kids to see their own works turned into books they can sign.
“For nine years, iWRITE has helped young students become published authors and provided writing programs to students across the Houston area,” iWRITE founder (and children’s author) Melissa William Murphy said. “This year’s spring luncheon was a fun way to raise awareness of our mission and our fall event that honors students for their writing accomplishments.”
Guests also funded scholarships for 15 students, allowing them to attend the iWRITE Creative Writing Summer Camp for free. The nonprofit also partnered with KPMG Family for Literacy to provide books to all students at the Youth Development Center signed by the guests in attendance.
Steve Lewis served as the afternoon’s caller (and it should be noted that, yes, even at The Post Oak, the room giggled conspiratorially at each call of “O-69”), while Deborah Duncan and Donae Chramosta co-chaired the second annual event. Chramosta, whose head table dressed in a theme of “designer colors” (think Tiffany blue, Hermes orange, and Chanel monochromes), however, ended up missing her own party—albeit it for good reason: an emergency appendectomy. While her friends clinked champagne flutes, the Vintage Contessa spent a much less enjoyable day undergoing (successful) surgery at Houston Methodist. Still, with the empty seat at her table—the one with a designer shopping bag centerpiece, obviously—she was definitely there in spirit.
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