Dancing with the KC Stars

For the second year in a row, Matt and I attended the "Dancing with the KC Stars" event, benefiting Cristo Rey High School.  The school has a special place in my heart, as I've become involved with the girls basketball program.  (They finished the season 15-6 and the head coach won "Coach of the Year!")

(During a time out at one of the games)

Me with the two seniors, who will be playing college ball next year!

 But basketball team aside, the school runs a really awesome program.  They provide a college-prep Catholic education for low-income students, many of whom wouldn't be able to attend high school otherwise.  In face, 97% of its students meet the "poverty" guideline.  But the best part?  The seniors have a 100% college acceptance rate, and they have for all 5 years of the schools existence.  The students work - like, a real job in the working world - one day a week, and that is how a good chunk of their tuition is covered.  The rest comes from people like us who donate.

Anyways, back to the event...

I borrowed a dress from my sister in law, so that saved some hassle.  And it was even purple!  I know I didn't get a good picture of it, but Matt looked so nice in his dark grey suit, purple tie, and awesome white pocket square with purple edging!  Of course any time he wears purple I think he looks amazing. :) 

Matt and I had an awesome time at this event last year.  This year was still fun, but maybe not quite as fun.  We got stuck at pretty much the worst able in the room over in one corner.  We didn't have a good view of the stage or the screens, really.  And we had a weird mix of people at our table.  (One old guy switched Matt's chocolate dessert out for his cheesecake and thought we wouldn't notice!  Who does that!?) 

The view from our corner table :(



 However, the food was good, the dancing was awesome, and it's all for such a good cause: education.  The students put on a great performance towards the end, and I snagged a picture with one of the b-ball players, Shakila, as she walked by.  (She told me their performance was going to be much better than last years, and it definitely was!)

The Kansas City "stars" and the actual professional dancers were definitely the highlight of the night though.  One of our favorite dancers was actually a car salesmen from somewhere up north, but an ex-Chiefs player won the fundraising part.  Of course! 

Over $600,000 was raised in one night for the school.  We were a small part of that number again this year.  They had an "auction" kind of set-up, and I raised my number to donate -- once the amounts dropped below the thousands.  There were students running around jumping up and down by whoever was donating, to make sure they didn't get missed.  Matt snapped a couple pictures of the two girls going crazy by me!

After the event, we made our way up to the stage for a picture in front of the cool sign.  Thanks to one of my b-ball players, Mayela, for snapping the pics for us!   

 Oh, and I snagged a sparkly ornament off the table for our Christmas tree.  I mean, I know it's a "travel" tree - but maybe we can just make it an "event" tree so we can include this one! (You know I can't pass up anything that sparkly!)

We'll be back again next year for sure!