Cupid’s arrow struck a balance between style and generosity as more than 140 philanthropic femmes gathered for the Sweet Galentine’s Day luncheon benefiting Dec My Room. The midweek affair on February 12 began with a morning of retail therapy at Tootsies, where guests browsed an array of pop-up shops and trunk shows, snagging the season’s must-haves while sipping and socializing.

  

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Melissa Sugulas, Estella Cockrell , Rebecca Thomas, Melissa Juneau , and Traci Young.

When shopping bags were filled, the crowd traded racks for rosé at PostScript HTX for a seated luncheon decked out in fluttering pink butterflies — a nod to Dec My Room’s emblem. Event chairs Jennifer Cope and Marie Flanagan welcomed the well-heeled crowd, who mingled with co-founders Susan Plank and Kendall Plank before settling in for the program. Heartstrings tugged as they shared moving stories of the children whose hospital stays are brightened through personalized room makeovers — each designed to reflect the patient’s interests.

Nearly $120,000 was raised through table and ticket sales, vendor contributions, sponsors like Mercedes-Benz of Sugar Land, and a raffle. In a moment that embodied both the spirit of giving and the event’s theme, guests raised delicate butterfly cutouts during the Butterflies Up appeal, symbolizing their support for creating comforting spaces for hospitalized children.

Since its founding in 2007, Dec My Room has transformed nearly 18,000 hospital rooms in 178 hospitals nationwide, making healing spaces feel more like home.

Spotted among the stylish crowd were Laurie Krohn, Stacey Lindseth, Donna Lewis, Elizabeth Cook, Estela Cockrell, Denise Tinkham, Patrice Alinger, Britney Tribble, Kristin Blomquist, Tori Kuykendall, Anna Osborne, Clare Jackson Sullivan, Erielle Gabay, Katie Tsuru, Nora Jarrard, Whitney Kuhn Lawson, Donae Chramosta, Ally Shell, Jennifer Pinkerton, Kelly Larkin, Kelli Weinzierl, and more.