Welcome back to our Semi Weekly Blog this fine Friday afternoon (doing Jenna Marbles proud). This week we’re back with a wonderful new & first ever Casino Royale Gala for The Humane Society of St. Joseph County.
Our history with the Humane Society of St. Joseph County is robust as they are one of the main few charity organizations that we have volunteered with for the past 9 autumns & winters, so we were surprised and thrilled to hear from them a month ago when they again requested our services. Over the past 9 autumns we’ve not only photographed upwards of 200 of their adoptable rescue pets in a mere 3 day spans in our full-service photography studio, but we’ve also donated our very own large and small physical photography products for the past 9 years to their annual Silent Auctions. Prior to this brand new gala at the Native American owned brand new casino hotel (the South Bend Four Winds Casino & hotel), we had formerly over the past 9 years donated large physical products that Jenny created from her Fine Art Bodies of Work. Her work that she’s donated to this wonderful organization over the past 9 years means a great deal to her as 9 winters ago she adopted one of her own pets from the organization (having previously grown up with two large rescue dogs). The fine art itself was created back when she lived solo in her apartment that she paid for with her work money in a nice part of the capital of Ohio. During that time she often traveled the world solo with her own work money post 7 year relationship in her mid-20s. Women in the United States of America are pretty tenacious!
The silent auction at this wonderful new event that we captured a couple weeks ago (Casino Royale Gala) helped raise money to cover the costs of the extremely impacted County Humane Society from caring for, to housing, and to then providing medical care for animals in their shelter. The event also sought to raise additional funds to update the fleet of vehicles the Humane Society uses to respond to animals in distress to newer electric vans.
The stunning Gala was held at the newly completed Four Winds Casino Hotel here in South Bend, Indiana. The casino and event space at the hotel is beautifully adorned with many native themed & created pieces as it is owned and operated by the local Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Native Tribe. We ourselves have been members of this Native American run casino for its entire lifespan here in South Bend so far (5.5 years) and prior to 5.5 years ago had partaken in being a business represented at wedding expos at its other Four Winds Casino location over on Lake Michigan. We care deeply for animals and The St. Joseph County Humane Society and South Bend Four Winds Casino are two businesses that we find deserving of our attention. With Jenny’s guidance we have always had our same annual charity work to help the groups that we care for the most (which like any good Millennial focus largely in nature organizations & animal rescue groups/ Humane Societies).
Anywho, enough about these wonderful organizations and onto the gala-!
As you can see, the Gala was absolutely wonderful. There was a bit of a “Cocktail Hour” to start the 4 hour event off wherein guests had access to the full-service bars, hot hors d'oeuvres being served by the wonderful hotel staff, and cold food items while bidding on the Silent Auction items. The items up for auction varied from Notre Dame tickets to spa and shuttle services and just about everything in between. There was also a “bottle pull” which included a tiny claw machine that you could use to win a mystery bottle of wine (very creative).
Inside the Gala during the full meal service (salads, full amazing Potawatomi tribe inspired meals, full desserts) the step team from Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) & an Elvis Impersonator took to the stage to perform many casino-themed numbers as entertainment during the meal (wonderful job, all)! In between numbers guests were officially welcomed by the Humane Society Executive Director Genny as well as local radio celebrity “Irish Dave.” Genny explained some of the planned portions of the rest of the evening as well as explaining the importance of coming together to help raise money for The Humane Society. She personally somehow (outside of her insanely long 80 hour weeks at the Humane Society) even made the entire Power Point presentation for the whole Gala on her own showing the local Humane Society, its mission, and its pets while later personally thanking and acknowledging several member of The Humane Society Staff in attendance that night. After and in-between numbers Genny distributed a few awards to donors and volunteers of The Humane Society of St. Joseph County, then “Irish Dave” welcomed Silent Auction paddle donations from those who wanted to donate larger sums directly to different needs of the local Humane Society. The women really showed out in their donations as you can see above-! Not only were women the biggest portion of the entertainment, but they were also the heads of the entire event, the ones who work at the shelter, AND the ones financially donating to it-! WoW! After wrapping up the final bits of the auction, there was one last dance number and then folks were free to again leave their tables to mingle and enjoy drinks at the end of the night.
We hope you enjoyed this wonderful event of the South Bend Casino Royale Gala for the St. Joseph Humane Society as much as we did and we hope to see you there next year or in the future-!
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Unrelated: We’ve been swamped literally all of October (as we are annually/ have been for the past 9 of 14 autumns) with non-stop client work, but hope to catch you back here next week to enjoy some more wonderful client work of ours. To Octobers & rescue pets, nature, and womankind!