Fall Philanthropy Report: Be An Angel Improves Quality of Life for Children with Special Needs
Oct. 8, 2024
What year was your organization launched? 1986 by a small group of committee community members that believed special needs children were not receiving basic life services.
What is your mission? It is our mission to improve the quality of life for children withs special needs by providing adaptive equipment, hearing devices, select services, and support programs.
Why did you launch the organization? We believe that children are the heart and soul of humanity, that they represent all that is good within us, and that we can help children with special needs experience life at their fullest potential.
What are you most proud of? We have immediate results for the children needing most any kind of medical adaptive equipment. No long waiting periods. Children and their families who have been waiting between 10-12 years for respite services alone from governmental services receive respite care within 30 days or less. All with a very small administrative staff and hundreds of volunteers. Additionally, we have opened offices in DFW and San Antonio.
What’s been your impact in the community? Be An Angel has provided adaptive equipment, respite care and other select services to over 9900 special needs children from birth to age 22 in just this past year alone. These children generally come from limited to low-income families.
Tell us about your big event. We are proud of the many events hosted by Be An Angel each year. Every February we host Purse Bingo with over 600 participants winning luxury end purses and prizes. Dan Pastorini hosts his Celebrity Golf Tournament which has raised more than 2 million dollars in the past years he has supported these children. Additionally, our Spring Gala, with “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” theme raises well over $700,000 per year.
How many employees and volunteers work with your organization? We currently have 5 employees in Houston, and two in DFW and San Antonio. We are thankful for over 600 volunteers assisting us each year.
What are your major challenges? Sharing our story making families know we are here to help them.
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Contemporary Clout: Rousing Modern-Day-Set ‘Il Trovatore’ and Posh Tented Dinner Open HGO Season
Oct. 21, 2024
ALL OF THE top performing arts organizations in Houston have now officially opened their 2024-2015 seasons, now that Houston Grand Opera has bowed with a stirring performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore at The Wortham followed by a lavish al fresco dinner in a tent on the plaza out front.The Houston Ballet and the Houston Symphony held their own grand opening night festivities earlier in the fall.
“Stephen Wadsworth’s brand-new production of Verdi’s perennially popular tragedy sets the story in modern Spain,” notes a rep for the company, “where old and new worlds coexist, cathedrals comingling with street art.”
The elaborate sets — with graffiti-style accents by 26-year-old Houston street artist Floyd Mendoza — and engaging contemporary costuming awed the audience, to say nothing of the singing by worldwide opera luminaries Raehann Bryce-Davis, Ailyn Pérez, Michael Spyres, Lucas Meachem, and Morris Robinson. One of Houston’s most beloved arts leaders, Artistic and Musical Director Patrick Summers, who recently announced a shift to an emeritus role in 2026, conducted the orchestra.
After the opera, Janet Gurwitch and Ron Franklin, chairs of the evening, welcomed some 425 guests to Fish Plaza, where “décor by The Events Company blended old-world charm with a modern edge, the dramatic yet elegant ambiance accentuated by rich hues of burgundy, teal, navy blue, and gold,” said the HGO rep. Dinner included a raved-over beet salad with frisee followed by beef short ribs with butternut squash and mushrooms. For dessert: dark chocolate torte.
Boldface names seen schmoozing about incude HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor, Margaret Alkek Williams, Molly and Jim Crownover, Isabel and Danny David, Tracy and Valerie Dieterich, Carey Kirkpatrick, Franci Neely, Duyen and Marc Nguyen, Cynthia and Tony Petrello, Lindy and John Rydman, Anita and Gerald Smith, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Betty and Jesse Tutor, Hallie Vanderhider and famed opera composer Jake Heggie.
More than $600,000 was raised to support HGO’s community-engagement programs.
Omar and Maria Alaoui (photo by Michelle Watson)
Alecia Harris and Eivind Moen (photo by Emily Jaschke)
Lucas and Irina Meachem, and Tracy Maddox and John Serpe (photo by Emily Jaschke)
Janet Gurwitch, Raehann Bryce-Davis and Michelle Hevrdejs (photo by Michelle Watson)
Emily Bivona and Ryan Manser (photo by Emily Jaschke)
Nico Roussel and Teresa Procter (photo by Emily Jaschke)
Bobby and Phoebe Tudor (photo by Emily Jaschke)
Khori Dastoor and William and Huda Zoghbi (photo by Michelle Watson)
Melanie Smith and Michelle Klinger (photo by Michelle Watson)
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HOUSTON GRAND OPERA’S second fall repertoire production is Gioachino Rossini’s Cinderella. The colorful, commedia dell'arte-inspired production opens Friday, Oct. 25, and stars Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard — a breathtaking brunette beauty, even when doused in soot — in bel canto role of Angelina, known to her mean step-sisters as “Cenerentola.”
The talented cast also includes baritone Alessandro Corbelli, a revered Rossini specialist, as Don Magnifico, tenor Jack Swanson as Prince Ramiro, baritone Iurii Samoilov in his company debut as the prince’s valet Dandini, and bass-baritone Cory McGee as the philosopher Alidoro.
On Nov. 9, as part of the HGO’s inaugural Family Day, kids and parents are invited to enjoy a special 90-minute version of the opera directed by Leonard and tailored for young audiences. The family-friendly production features low lighting and flexible entry and re-entry, and stars mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny in her company debut as Angelina.
Isabel Leonard (photo by Michael Thomas)
On the surface, Cinderella may be frothy, but it is also incredibly challenging to sing, and in rehearsals, Leonard has to use two very different voices: one for singing, and one for speaking to and communicating with the cast. “It’s a different kind of vocal engagement to speak and be a leader, versus staying in a ‘singing’ state, which is also taxing,” says Leonard. “I’m generally exhausted! But it’s so much fun to direct, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
With still so few women directing opera, or for that matter, conducting or taking the lead in other creative roles, the HGO has addressed this disparity in recent productions, including Intelligence, directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and featuring dancers from Zollar’s company Urban Bush Women; and The Wreckers, directed by Louisa Muller. While Leonard believes anyone, regardless of gender, can bring a fresh perspective to an opera’s narrative, she confirms she has attempted to bring Cinderella into a more “equal zone.”
“It is challenging to recreate these existing versions of love stories that are already dipped in old tropes and written by men,” says Leonard, who is mother to a teenage son. “Thankfully, this English version has a little more room to expand since we are able to make cuts and write some dialogue.” (Joan Font returns to HGO to direct the “grown up” performances of Cinderella, the same production he directed for the company in 2007, and Lorenzo Passerini makes his company debut conducting.)
Other activities planned for Family Day before the performance and during intermission include a Craft-a-Rat station, where kids can make masks similar to the ones the rats in the show wear. (Fair warning, there are cute, but life-size rats in the production!) Kids will also have the opportunity to decorate a tiara or crown, visit a glitter bar and a princess photo station (probably in that order), enjoy story times and mobile book checkouts courtesy of Harris County Public Library, and visit an instrument petting zoo.
While the “adult” performances of Cinderella are a must-see for those new to opera or thoroughly familiar with the form, the Family Day production is designed to appeal to kids of all ages.
“Children are the best audiences. In fact, anyone who allows their imagination to run wild is the best!” says Leonard. “I hope for lots of giggles, laughter, applause, and focused engagement throughout the entire piece.”
Leonard in rehearsal (photo by Michael Bishop)
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