Deviyani Misra-Godwin and Paul LeBlanc
LITERACY NOW, A Houston nonprofit dedicated to empowering children through reading, hosted its most successful fundraiser ever at the St. Regis Hotel.
Its 14th annual “Magnums Make a Difference” gala, which included a four-course meal along with silent and live auctions, brought in more than half a million dollars, which will go directly to helping students in HISD and Aldine ISD, where thousands of K-2nd grade students currently need reading intervention that the districts cannot provide.
The evening honored Bhakti Khatri-Horton and Monsterville Horton IV, longstanding Literacy Now board members who pioneered the gala 13 years ago, and also recognized third-grade student April, who appeared with Literacy Now CEO Jacque Daughtry on the Kelly Clarkson Show this spring to show off how far she’s come in her reading progress.
The hundreds of attendees stuck around to catch the end of the Astros’ World Series game 6 — and then the celebrations continued into the night.
Steve Kesten, Lynee Larson and Bret Pardue
Jacque Daughtry and third-grader April
Lokesh Chugh and Jusleen Karve
Monsterville Horton IV and Bhakti Khatri-Horton
Jacque Daughtry, Dylan and Monsterville Horton IV
- Kathie Lee Gifford Headlines Storybook Soiree, Raises Nearly Half a Mil for Literacy Foundation ›
- Who Are You Calling Tacky?! At Festive Function, YoPros Stuff Backpacks Instead of Stockings ›
- Turning the Page: ‘Celebration of Reading’ Raises Nearly $2 Mil at Lavish In-Person Affair ›
- Yo-Pros Go ‘Mad’ for a Cause, Raise $300,000 for Childhood Literacy ›
- The Kids Are All ‘Write!’ Literacy Org Honors Student Authors and Illustrators with Grand Gala ›
Frederica von Stade (photo by Michelle Watson)
Jonathan and Ann Ayre and Rachel and Warren Ellsworth (photo by Michelle Watson)
Tiffany Sebastian, Kristin Bingham and Amanda Abiassi (photo by Dave Rossman)