The Junior Council did an exceptional job Saturday night (1/30) hosting their signature fundraising event with over 2,000 (2,300) guests consisting mostly of under 40 young professionals all under 1 roof, for a great cause. By now we hope you saw the video where we chatted with snowball chair Annie Hudson and President Ken Lodge about the organization and the cause they were raising money for.
The group worked very hard to meet their fundraising goal and to guests’ surprise that night, they announced they exceeded their goal by raising $235,000 for The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago with a check being presented to Dr. Yogev on stage!!! Though the event started at 8pm and went until 1pm, the great hall was surprisingly already packed by 9pm.
As guests flocked into Union Station in their best black tie interpretations for the sold out event, the vibe was ripe for a good time ahead. The different food tasting stations featured 25 area restaurants including Stans Donuts, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, Mon Ami Gabi, Davanti Enoteca to name a few and if you arrived late, you may have missed some of the bites but blessings to Stan’s with the end of the night mini donuts that were gone in just about 60 seconds.
While some guests were keeping an eye on their bids for the silent auction items that included autographed sports memorabilia, Lollapalooza VIP afterparty tickets, gym memberships and style items, others were planted in line for libations.
What’s an event without dancing? The night’s band Rod Tuffcurls and The Bench Press and the DJ kept guests on the dance floor all night jamming and singing to hits like Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” and Justin Beiber’s “Sorry.”
Nothing kills a good night out than shoe pain, which some of the ladies experienced, with salvation coming in the form of the I.V Doctor emblazoned house slippers that kept guests dancing all night long. Guests were then shuttled over to river north boîte, Underground for the afterparty. It was a great night FUNdraising for such a great cause and kudos to the snowball committee members Kristina Wert, Annie Hudson and all for a fantastic night! We can’t wait til 2017, we hope the Union Station revamp will be done by then and they will be back in the great hall.
- Sharif and Sophia Husseini
Photo credit: Daniel Delgado/SociaLifeChicago
