Shepherd Elem Gala
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Anonymous
| Husband and I had other commitments and could not attend. Could anyone tell me how was the event? |
Anonymous
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It was awesome!
Dinner was actually tasty - shocking for those institutionalized dinners, even at the Mayflower. Mayor Bowser came by, said a few words at the beginning (blasting the council for cutting Shepherd in the budget). Leland Melvin (astronaut)'s speech was inspiring. The live auction was really the highlight - they have a great auctioneer who was able to get a ton of extra $ through being entertaining with the right amount of pressure. The silent auction items were actually good - and some great values for useful stuff (birthday parties at local places, mosquito squad, yoga classes). We weren't much for dancing, but people were having a good time with that. Just nice to see the whole community out and dressed to the nines to support a common cause everyone feels strongly about. |
Anonymous
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It was really nice. Sold out at 300 attendees--last year's had only 124 attendees. There were three different ballrooms at the Mayflower: one for sit-down dinner and program including live auction, one for casino, and one for silent auction (Chinese room). Crowd was a mix of current families, Shepherd alum, neighbors/community members, etc.
I'm sure others will post about the local politicians, etc. who attended. Personally, it was just nice to see other Shepherd families dolled up and having a good time. Oh, and the cupcake bar was a nice touch. 
Kudos to the hardworking Shepherd families who planned the event. |
Anonymous
| Sounds awesome. What was attire like? |
Anonymous
| Sounds nice. The school must of hired a party planner because I can't see a PTA pulling this off. |
Anonymous
Thank you. It was all parents and community supporters who pulled it off. It is a small school, and we don't have the budget to hire a party planner. |
Anonymous
Thanks! The invite said "cocktail" attire. There was quite a range, from simple party dresses to full gowns. |
Anonymous
PP. I meant to say *full-length* gowns. It was nice in that there was so much variety. Overall, the gala had a pretty down-to-earth feel. |
Anonymous
Huh. 3 ballrooms at the Mayflower feels down to earth to you. Interesting. |
Anonymous
| DH and I had a fabulous time at the gala! We got to get dressed up, we bid on a few items, and I finally learned how to play blackjack! The hotel was beautiful and everyone looked wonderful. The PTA did an amazing job organizing the event, and I can't wait to find out how much money was raised. |
Anonymous
| Hmmmm........... 3 ballrooms at the Mayflower. Sounds like a beautiful event. Who were you gala chairs, maybe other schools need to hire them. |
Anonymous
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we are an incoming Shepherd family and had a great time at the gala meeting current parents and supporters. we felt very welcomed by all.
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Anonymous
It wasn't actually 3 full ballrooms. There was one ballroom where the dinner, live auction, and dancing took place. There were also 2 smaller rooms (I think they were small sections closed off from larger rooms or ballroms) where the silent auction and casino games took place. |
Anonymous
A few parents and community members did the bulk of the work. I am not normally into events like that but just about everything was really well done and it looked like people were having a good time. I met several couples with incoming children, which was really nice. Leland Melvin's keynote was short and sweet! He donated one of his space-worn NASA patches - talk about a unique item to display in your home! Bruce Johnson also did a nice job as emcee. |
Anonymous
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Here are some photos from the PTA's FB account if you are interested:
https://www.facebook.com/ShepherdElemPTA/photos_stream |