A Little Bit of Texas...A Whole Lot of Hope!

Well, we did it. We are finally through with HOPE 2009 (Hutchinson County Oil Patch Extravaganza). HOPE is an American Cancer Society Gala that began in 1988. It has donated more than $2 million dollars to the American Cancer Society over the past 21 years. It is the largest ACS fundraiser per capita. Pretty impressive for little Borger.
Nick and I chaired the banners committee again this year. Our friend, Kevin Ristroph, served as our co-chair. Tiffany Ristroph, our dear friend and Kevin's wife, served as decorations chair again, talk about a job! Several other close friends were committee chairs. The amount of work that goes into HOPE is truly unbelievable. My friend Julie describes HOPE just like this:

"HOPE is kind of like childbirth. You cultivate something and work on it for nine months. Then, it is incredibly painful and time consuming. You loose sleep, you forget to eat, your whole life changes for a week. Then once, it's all over, you forget the pain and for some reason want to do it all over again! Just like having multiple children!"

Julie and Todd have five children, two of the five are twins!
Honestly though, HOPE is just incredible and the amount of work does not compare to what those dealing with cancer are going through. So, here are some pictures!

For 21 years, HOPE has been an "invitation only" event. One receives an invitation a month prior to the event and then purchases tickets. My sweet friend, Misty, was the invitations chair. She did a great job! Oh, our theme this year was a "Little Bit of Texas....A Whole Lot of HOPE!" Super cute theme for a little bitty town in Texas!





We are blessed enough to hold HOPE at the Crutch Ranch. Mark and Leeanne Mitchell donate the use of their ranch. It is breathtaking. People who think West Texas is an eye sore should visit the Crutch Ranch. It is in the canyon and simply gorgeous. Here is a picture of the stage setting up and the 800 place settings that were set.




As I said previously, Nick and I chaired banners again. Here are Kevin and Nick doing the man power aspect of the banners! Hanging a LOT of banners very high in the air!




Here are some of the AMAZING decorations. Lots of painted boots and LOTS of glitter ($400 worth of glitter to be exact!). The tall glitter boots on either side of the stage were 12 feet tall! One of the most impressive pieces of decor was the Alamo. Just for perspective, the Alamo was 16 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Tiffany, Susan, Priscilla and Jennifer and truly artists! AMAZING!






This is the Texas "T" booth. Every year, HOPE sells a special drink for $100 a glass. Last year when we had a Mardi Gras theme, they sold hurricanes, previous years were margaritas, etc. Anyway, there is a limited number of drinks sold. When one buys one, he or she is entered in a drawing to win a Duncan and Boyd Jewelry Store $5,000 gift certificate. Our dear friend, Heather, won the gift certificate and was kind enough to donate it back to ACS. It was auctioned off for $5,100 and every bit of the money went back to the American Cancer Society. Thank you, Heather! The Texas "T" booth was chaired by our sweet friends, Kent and Christy. Oh, and their booth had a 16 foot oil derrick that my sweet hubby helped build!





Here is the Spirit of HOPE booth. Our friends, Guy and Michele, run this booth. One can purchase stars for friends or relatives who have dealt with cancer. Nick, Kevin and other helpers also built an oil derrick for Spirit of HOPE. Michele makes a Texas every year with the theme of HOPE on it to commemorate each occasion and each chairman.



Here is the raffle booth. One can pay $20 for three tickets. He or she is entered to win one of two drawings, a NASCAR trip or a Dallas Cowboys trip. Also pictured is the promotions booth run by our sweet friends, Jody and Wes. Oh and more painted boots!






Here are pictures of the table settings. So precious! Oh and all of those boots and buckets...hand painted and hand glittered!








So, let's actually have some pictures of the party! Here is Nick and me before the party. Just an explanation on Nick's attire. At HOPE, you can dress as western chic or flashy as you want! So fun! We dropped off Baby Allison with her sitter and the Ristroph girls. She did great! Thank goodness!


Here are some different pictures of the night. We took pictures with Tiffany and Susan and some pictures of my sweet KENO group. Oh and just ignore the West Texas dust particles on the camera!






There is a gaming tent. We played craps. Of course Nick won big! Here are Tiff and Nick rolling at the table. Oh and when I played with Nick, we won...A LOT. We won the bench you see below. I am still on cloud nine because we purchase a pair of Julie Miles boots at the silent auction! I love them! We can justify it! It all went to a great cause. The boots fit like they were made for me!




One of the big draws of HOPE is the entertainment. Every year, there is a fairly well known country entertainer that performs. Last year, we had Kevin Fowler, the year before was Neal McCoy, the year before that was Billy Dean, etc. Most of you know that I am NOT a country music fan, but this year we had Roger Creager. Believe it or not, I actually have one of his songs on my ipod! I know the song, "Everclear." And I know all the words! Now that is something! Matt Martindale performed after Roger as a dance band. They both put on great shows! Here are some pictures of Roger singing "Everclear!"



The last bus left the ranch at 1:00am. We stayed and cleaned up until 2:00am. Allison and I went back the next day to help pick up. It was such a huge success. People worked their tail ends off all for a great cause! Thanks to our wonderful underwriters! As soon as I know the total amount of money earned for the ACS, I will let you know! We will take a couple of months off and then it will start all over again!