Shelby's Social Diary
UST supporters had a Mardi Gras ball and raised $900,000 for scholarships
As a Louisiana native, I love everything having to do with Mardi Gras — beads, parties, parades, king cake — except perhaps the social vacuum of Ash Wednesday. No such doldrums for the University of St. Thomas crowd still gyrating after Tuesday night's "Jazz It Up" Mardi Gras gala that raised just under $900,000 for scholarships.
Applause, applause for the revelry at the InterContinental Houston where Kathy and Dr. Ken Wells reigned as chairs and where UST students Robert Murillo and Steffani Rush served as student Mardi Gras king and queen. The regal duo thanked guests for contributing so generously to the Francis E. Monaghan Scholarship fund. Other scholarship recipients aided in setting a Mardi Gras mood by thanking guests as they provided them with multiple strands of beads in the traditional purple, green and gold.
That fund, the cornerstone of UST student aid, will provide $9.2 million in scholarships to more than 900 UST students in the fall.
The most popular entity circulating through the party of 450 was the Black Lab puppy that brought a handsome $18,000 in the live auction. The canine came with a posh puppy palace designed by Kickerillo Homes and Petiquette training and doggy day care.
Adding a meaningful touch to the evening were the 12 Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, whose nursing school at St. Joseph's Hospital relocated to the UST campus in the early '70s but had to close due to financial constraints during the '80s economic downturn. UST is working to reopen the nursing school in 2012.
On stage was emcee Channel 13 news anchor Dave Ward, the UST Jazz Band and Yvonne Washington and the Mix.
UST president Robert Ivany and wife Marianne greeted guests including Margaret Williams and Jim Daniel, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Mary and Vincent Kickerillo, Kelli Kickerillo and Todd Forester, Cora Sue and Harry Mach, Alice and Keith Mosing, Gina and Dr. Devinder Bhatia and Trini Mendenhall Sosa and Frank Sosa.