Saturday night’s second annual gala fundraising event, Breathing Life into the Future, filled the Spring Valley Ballroom and Howard Ahmanson Lobby of the Hotel Pattee with gifts, glamor and good feeling in the cause of cystic fibrosis reseach.
The glitzy event was hosted by the Charlie’s Angels Team on behalf of 4-year-old Charlie Hugunin, daughter of Tim and Jenny Hugunin of Norwalk. Little Charlie battles daily to breathe as she fights cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening lung and digestive disease that causes heavy mucus in Charlie’s lungs, pancreas and other organs.
Lynn Marr Moore of Ames, one Charlie’s grandmothers and an organizer of the event, said the evening was a great success. Fellow organizers Betty Hugunin, Charlie’s other grandmother, and Denise Beckman, a charter member of Charlie’s Angels, said more than 100 attendees pre-registered, and additional guests were not turned away.
Following the appetizers with cash bar, the evening’s entertainers, the Dueling Pianos of Andy Anderson and Mike Leeds, cheered the partygoers by playing a host of familiar favorites.
More than 70 items were on offer in the silent art auction, and attendees could also purchase a “Reds, Whites, and Brews” package for $20 and take home some first-rate adult beverages.
Chances could be taken to win one of many gifts provided by Charlie’s Angels merchants, including lunch with Iowa State University Football Coach Matt Campbell and courtside tickets donated by Iowa State University Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Prohm.
The money raised from the event will fund valuable research and new medications to help find a cure. Charlie’s Angels have raised $100,000 in four years, Moore said, and the money stays local because the Iowa Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation funds research at the Cystic Fibrosis Research Center at the University of Iowa.
