Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy Class of 2024 Fundraiser Blends Legal and Literary to Raise Money for Center for Child Protection
On May 10, 2024, at the Central Public Library downtown, scores of attorneys, friends, family, and community members gathered for a gala fundraiser in support of the Center for Child Protection (CCP), organized by this year’s Leadership Academy.
The Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy was established to assist Austin-area lawyers in making a difference in our community, serving the bar, and promoting professional development. Each year a class of approximately 20 members is chosen from applications submitted by lawyers of all areas of practice, firm size, and levels of experience. The program consists of in-person discussions with community leaders, who share their thoughts and stories about leadership and answer questions.
To wrap up each class year, the Leadership Academy is tasked with completing a class project that benefits the Austin community. This year, the class chose to host a fundraiser gala for the CCP. The gala raised approximately $18,000 for the organization.
The CCP is a local charitable organization that aims to end the cycle of child abuse throughout Travis County. They aim to support children who have witnessed a crime or been the victim of child abuse. The organization coordinates care to ensure the welfare of each child and works with several community partners including law enforcement officials, medical professionals, social workers, prosecutors, and child advocacy professionals. More information about their work can be found by exploring their website, https://centerforchildprotection.org/.
The event began with an evening cocktail hour outside on the library’s rooftop garden, which overlooks the city skyline. The setting sun and light summer breeze set a cooler tone than usual for Texas in May, an ambiance further enhanced by calm blue floor lights scattered around the terrace garden. Literary-inspired cocktails such as “Huckleberry Gin,” and “Lime and Punishment,” were served in addition to the lavender lemonade mocktail, “The Color Purple.”
A soundtrack to the evening was provided by the Greenbelt DJ; hors d’oeuvres were offered to guests courtesy of Austin Catering; silent auction tables were set up with donated items and experiences for attendees to bid on; and there was a booth where attendees could learn more about the CCP from Journey Riggs, the CCP’s events & corporate volunteer coordinator.
If guests didn’t fill up on bright watermelon feta bites or the fig flatbread appetizers during the cocktail hour, a feast awaited them inside, also provided by Austin Catering. Guests were treated to Caesar salad, roasted beef medallions, wood-grilled chicken, a creamy risotto, and roasted vegetables; and ended the night with brownies, tiramisu shooters, and mini cannoli.
During dinner the program began, which included a speech by Amy Cranfill, the CCP’s director of donor relations. There was also a beautiful poetry reading by Ben James, founder and managing partner of Sandoval & James, one of the title sponsors of the event.
As a nod to both the benefitting organization’s focus on children and the event taking place in Austin’s lustrous literary jewel, the Leadership Academy encouraged guests to dress up as beloved storybook characters and enter a costume contest that rounded out the program. Judge Sylvia Holmes came dressed as Carmen Sandiego, and Judge Maya Guerra Gamble as Pippi Longstocking. Others dressed as Hermione Granger, Elizabeth Bennet, and so many more! There was even a group costume as the folks at Hembree Bell Law, PLLC dressed up as the Outsiders.
After the program concluded, guests finished up their dinners, enjoyed music out on the terrace, and placed final bids on silent auction items before the event ended.
The elegant evening would not have been possible without all of the hard work the Leadership Academy put into preparation of the event and fundraising.
The Leadership Academy organized into subcommittees dedicated to Venue/Event Logistics, Fundraising, and Advertising/Promotion. They spent time choosing a venue, caterer, arranging decorations, setting up the event on the day, designing programs and posters, securing silent auction donations, and selling tickets. They raised approximately $32,000 in sponsorships, ticket sales, and donations from across the community.
The Fundraising subcommittee also ensured each sponsorship tier also had an individual legal literary designation. The title sponsors, or the “To Kill A Mockingbird” sponsors, for the event were Ross Scalise Beeler and Pillischer Employment Lawyers and Sandoval & James. The remaining sponsors that fell under “The Pelican Brief,” “The Lincoln Lawyer,” and “The Firm” categories were Doyle and Seelbach, PLLC; West, Webb, Allbritton & Gentry, P.C.; Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP; Burns, Anderson, Jury and Brenner, LLP; Hembree Bell Law, PLLC; Loewy Law Firm; Pappas, Grubbs & Price, P.C.; Leon Cosgrove Jimenez, LLP; Scott Douglas McConnico LLP; Richards Rodriguez & Skeith LLP; Holly Taylor for Judge; Cain & Skarnulis PLLC; and Butler Snow LLP. The event would not have been possible without their generous donations.
The Leadership Academy also secured silent auction item donations from local businesses including The Ten Spot, Boxt Wine, Dolce Salon, Amy’s Ice Cream, Esther’s Follie, Fairmont Austin, North Italia, Orange Theory (Triangle), Vigilante, Atiana’s Boutique, Fixe Southern House, William Murray Golf, Dream Weaver Designs + Scout and Cellar Wine, The Deckhouse Lake Vacation Home Point Venture, and Hardie Alcozer, who donated an estate planning package. Goodnight Loving also donated vodka for the event.
Activist, politician, and author Nelson Mandela said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” The 2024 Leadership Academy is proud to have raised money to support the mission and great work of the CCP, and was honored to have hosted this event in a public library, a traditionally safe space where children can come to learn, grow, and be themselves.