Clayton Dabney For Kids With Cancer Luncheon Is Medicine Of The Heart

By Leanne Raesener          Photography by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Smith

THE SETTING:  The Dallas Country Club was the recent setting for the Clayton Dabney for Kids with Cancer’s fifth annual Love Luncheon with more than 400 of Texas’ most notable sociables and philanthropists in attendance. The event kicked off with a market-style shopping experience where guests enjoyed love-inspired cocktails. Exclusive local vendors were featured, and MiniLuxe was on hand to provide quick-dry polish changes. Guests had the opportunity to enter a raffle featuring exclusive travel packages, including a staycation at The Joule, a three-night stay at The Four Seasons Punta Mita, and two-night stays at both Sea Island and The Four Seasons Vail.

THE STYLE:  Following the shopping extravaganza, guests were invited into the ballroom where Janie Bell of Highland Park Presbyterian gave the invocation. A delectable lunch was served featuring tomato bisque and grilled chicken salad, during which Christina Kate and Shelby Dabney took the stage. Christina addressed the crowd with a heartwarming tribute to her brother, Clayton, who lost his battle with cancer in 1995 when he was just six years old.

NBC-5 Anchor Meredith Land moderated the keynote presentation which featured Global Healthcorps (GHC) co-founding CEO, Barbara Pierce Bush. GHC is an organization that mobilizes a global community of young leaders to build the movement for health equity. She discussed her family’s experiences in the White House, her current endeavors pursuing her Master’s degree at Harvard, and the work she is doing regarding global health. She brought her mother, Former First Lady Laura Bush, as her guest.

THE PURPOSE: Brittany Hunt and Chelsea Hunt chaired the luncheon, and Ann and John Delautour served as honorary co-chairs. Leslie Ficke is the executive director of Clayton Dabney for Kids with Cancer. The luncheon benefitted the “Medicine of the Heart” outreach program, which supports the agency’s mission to provide families in need who have children in the last stages of terminal cancer. It has offered everlasting memories in last wishes, gifts, special events, family travel, and financial assistance to over 4,400 families. They have distributed more than $8 million to terminally ill children and their families across the United States.