Record $1.2 Million Houston Night Honors 50 Years of Standing Up For What’s Right: Grammy Winner, Reality TV Star and Hero Houstonians All Turn Out

What: Houston Area Urban League 50th Anniversary Equal Opportunity Gala

Where: Hilton Americas- Houston

PC Moment: A sold out ballroom was but one high mark for the Houston Area Urban League’s 50th Anniversary Equal Opportunity Gala’s record-breaking night. Count a whopping $1.2 million in the bank, that figure more than doubling the successes of previous HAUL galas and surpassing the set goal by  $200,000. This, noted honorary chair Mayor Sylvester Turner, in the wake of the Hurricane Harvey deluge that zapped the city and its citizens with billions of dollars in damages.

None could have been more over the moon with the black-tie evening’s success than co-chairs John Mingé, recently retired BP America president and CEO, and Calvin C. Guidry. Well, of course, HAUL president and CEO Judson Robinson III was walking on air as well.

With the theme “Honoring Our Past … Impacting Our Present … Shaping Our Future,” the night’s entertainment featured five couples “dancing through the decades” in honor of the non-profit’s half-century of standing up for those in need and disadvantaged. Taking the dance floor spotlight were Judge Clarese and Cary Yates representing the 1960s, Pam and Robert McKay swaying to a ’70s vibe , Marianna and Terry Roberson rocking through the ’80s, Bobby Scott and LeTesha Thompson on a ’90s spin, and Chelsi and Phillips Yates  celebrating the new century’s first decade.

A full-fledged, prestigiously chic event, the headliner entertainment included Grammy Award-winning Regina Belle, American Idol alum Ruben Studdard, Chris Walker, and Houston’s own Ernest Walker and the Ernest Walker Band.

HAUL’s big night honored three heroic and much-loved Houstonians – Ruth Simmons, Prairie View A&M president; Jim McIngvale, aka “Mattress Mack,” philanthropist and Harvey hero; and Roynell Young,  Pro-Vision Academy founder and CEO.

While the ballroom was packed with a sellout crowd of 1,000, U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, escorted by political supporters Nivien Saleh and Sima Ladjevardian, made a cameo appearance, much to the delight of the predominantly Democratic crowd.

Who: Emcee KPRC Channel 13’s Khambrel Marshall, Vernus Swisher, Richard Campo, Winell and Doug Herron, Joanne and Peter Linden, Tiffany and Jerell Parker, Karen Hofmeister, Tissy and Rusty Harden, Bryce Kennard, Dr. Iman Hypolite, and Venora and Eric Goodie.