Casino Night scholarship fund raiser a HUGE success!

Everyone had a great time at the Third Annual Casino Night Scholarship Fundraiser. The number of attendees at this year’s event was approximately 140 – nearly double from last year. Between Roulette, Craps, Blackjack, Texas Hold’em, Dip for Diamonds, good food and a silent auction loaded with different items, everyone found something to enjoy. Every year this event gets bigger and better and we will be able to award several scholarships in the fall.

This event could not have been made possible without our wonderful sponsors. Please give them a call to thank them!

We also had a great Task Force that worked for months to make our Casino Night fantastic! Those on the Task Force are Guy Draper, Nancy Foss, Tim Hald, Michele Heyman, Nadja Otto, Roger Reese, Ron Wignall and Kaira Tanwar.

Several of our CPAs were big winners that night and Debbie Leatham went home with that half-carat diamond! She had this to say about the event and winning the diamond:

Playing "Dip for Diamonds" was so much fun! I picked three chances going in, then two more midway through the evening. I had studied coworkers' diamond rings all week, but it was probably a mixture of luck and good fortune. Hearing the news was thrilling - almost as good as receiving passing scores on the CPA exam! Having worked for many years in state government and now higher education, it is a rare treat to have something so nice. I plan to have the diamond added to my 25th anniversary band so that I can remember and enjoy this always. Thanks again for the evening of a lifetime.

Brian Hoover of Avant-Garde Jewelers, helped us secure the diamond and inspected everyone’s stones towards the end of the evening. If you still have your Cubic Zirconium, Brian can set that into very affordable gold or silver mounts. He also does wonderful custom work, so please contact him via email or by phone (512) 451-0338. He is a pleasure to work with!

Tina Harmon, CPA, also went home with two of our biggest prizes – the Southwest Airline tickets and the much-coveted 8 hour CPE certificate that she plans to use for that Ethics requirement all CPAs have.

There were five Texas Hold’em Tournaments that evening. The winner from each tournament went home with a $50 gift certificate from Best Buy. Our winners were Brooks Slaughter, Dan Mondrik, Karen Alkoff, Cordes Earl and Steven Sullivan.

Last, but not least, we must thank everyone who volunteered the evening of the event. There was always so much going on that we needed several people in different places throughout the evening. We could not have done it without these great people: Carlie Case, Craig Casper, Guy Draper, Jennifer Draper, Cordes Earl, Carla Fehrenbach, Nancy Foss, Dorothy Hald, Tim Hald, Tina Harmon, Michele Heyman, Jan Keeling, Terry Newman, Nadja Otto, Roger Reese, Donna Wesling, Ron Wignall, Bette Williams, Diane Joiner, Lucy Medrano and Kaira Tanwar. Music was mixed and supplied by Ajay Tanwar, who kept the night jammin’!

If you have any suggestions or questions regarding our annual Casino Night Scholarship Fundraiser, please contact Kaira Tanwar. Please email Kaira if you would like to serve on next year’s task force as well.

Here are photos from our event:

Michele Heyman acted as greeter with Mardi Gras beads as people checked in at the registration desk. Roger Reese speaks with our registration volunteers, Jan Keeling, Carla Fehrenbach and Tina Harmon, who had the first shift of the evening.

Kaira Tanwar and her younger brother, Nathan Verootis, posed for the camera before the evening went off into full swing. Nathan has faithfully attended every Casino Night Scholarship Fundraiser since its inception in 2004.

Penny Dear, Past President of the Chapter, visits the registration desk to check in and pick up her $20,000 chip! Too bad it’s not real money…

Roger De La Cruz, from Mike’s Print Shop, and Joyce Smith, from Lockart, Atchley & Associates, represent a couple of our sponsors. Joyce is seen here with her husband, Rick, at the registration desk

Before they could even take off their coats, we have Jesse and Laura Dominguez pose for the camera.

Carlie Case checks out the event program while her husband, Jerry, gets the gambling chips. He has his priorities straight!

Once people visited the registration desk, it was dinner time! The hotel provided a spread of three different salads, steamed vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, roast beef, chicken in a creamy sauce and a choice of three desserts. We never let our members go hungry…

Carol Boyd, current Chapter President, sits with Rick Smith and Past Chapter Presidents Joyce Smith and Otto Wheeler while they feast on dinner.

Bette Williams, far right, enjoys her meal with her guests to the Casino Night Scholarship Fundraiser. Bette is Past President of the Austin Chapter and is also the first woman in TSCPA to receive the Meritorious Service Award. It is because of her great service to the profession and Society that we named our most renowned scholarship the Bette Williams Scholarship.

Many people visited the Silent Auction before they even ate dinner. We had 43 items on the auction block including handmade goods from some of our members – a beautiful afghan blanket and silver/Swarovski crystal jewelry (Thanks Diana and Janet). Other members donated art prints, gift certificates, US flags flown over the Capitol, a Nolan Ryan baseball, gift baskets, etc.

Carol Boyd stands next a print of an architectural drawing of the UT Tower donated by Otto Wheeler. One lucky Austin Chapter staff person won that bid to hang in her study – Hook’em Horns!

Nancy Foss, Austin Chapter President-elect, goes glam in her stylin’ disco ball sunglasses, Mardi Gras t-shirt and beads. Carlie Case appreciates her fashion sense.

Both Ron Wignall and Guy Draper were key in helping make the Casino Night Scholarship Fundraiser a success! Guy Draper also sponsored the event, and remember, we couldn’t have done it without the help of our sponsors.

One of the big events for the evening was the Texas Hold’em Tournament. Here you see Brooks Slaughter, Christi Mondrik and Jesse Dominguez put on their poker faces – there’s a $50 gift card to Best Buy at stake!

Donna Wesling turns to Otto Wheeler to say “I’m going to win this thing” during the Texas Hold’em Tournament. Steven Sullivan grins and thinks to himself “yeah, right”.

Only one person has been eliminated during the first Texas Hold’em Tournament. Everyone is determined to have the most chips at the end of the game.

The first round of winners are (drum roll, please) Brooks Slaughter and Dan Mondrik. Member Christi Mondrik played in the tournament, too, but her husband took all.

Craig Casper and Tim Hald take the second shift at the registration desk. Here is where people checked in, received their chips, went for Dip for Diamond chances and signed up for the Texas Hold’em Tournament.

Guy Draper, CPA and New England Financial were big sponsors of the event. Some of our sponsors took advantage of having a booth at the event.

Another one of our sponsors present was Merrill Lynch.

Laura Dominguez looks on at Staci Reese playing Roulette. Looks like they’re having fun as the wheel spins – will it be red or black? No one knows until the ball lands.

Guy Draper has his back turned on the Dip for Diamonds table while people stand in line for their chance at a half-carat diamond.

Aren’t they pretty? Here lies a bowl of half-carat cubic zirconium pieces with a diamond in there somewhere.

The dice game – it’s a lot of fun, but can be confusing for a first time player (or second, third, fourth, etc.) Roll the dice for everyone at the table and it’s a good thing that the dealers are there to help out with the odds!

Ajay Tanwar plays blackjack like a pro while his sister-in-law, Kaylene Huber, watches to learn.

Blackjack sure was popular! Carrie Arsenault, with Accountability Resources (a sponsor), has a hand dealt to her that is sure to beat the dealer.

Casino Night Task Force member Nadja Otto, her boyfriend Cordes Earl and Rhonda Wise of Research Institute of America (RIA – a sponsor) are serious blackjack players. No bet is too little or too big for these card sharks.

Jan Keeling, Carlie Case and Nancy Foss (all decked out for the evening) try their hand at blackjack (no pun intended). They look like they’re having fun!

Bette Williams, Karen Alkoff, Tim and Dorothy Hald and Brooks Slaughter try their luck at the second Texas Hold’em Tournament for the evening. Who will be the winner?

Craig Casper and Curtis Campbell have a try at the second Texas Hold’em Tournament. It looks like the dealer has the most chips, though, and that can’t be good…

Three tables were used simultaneously to hold our Texas Hold’em Tournaments. Roger Reese and everyone else at this table contemplate their hands to see if they should bet, check or fold.

And the winners to the Second Texas Hold’em Tournaments are Karen Alkoff, Cordes Earl and Steven Sullivan. Congratulations!

9:30 was the cutoff time to Dip for Diamonds, but the start time to get your stones checked. Just look at that line of people waiting to see if they had the real thing.

We are very pleased that one of our member CPAs went home with the real diamond at the end of the night. Please give your applause to Debbie Leatham! Here she is with her sparkly prize standing next to our jeweler, Brian Hoover.

Many of our sponsors had given away door prizes and one of those winners is Kathy Cothran. Pictured here also is Tina Harmon who went home with two of our raffle prizes, including the Southwest Airline tickets. Carla Fehrenbach also received a Best Buy gift card, which Tina won in last year’s casino night. Those are some lucky people!

And who went home with Silent Auction Item #1 – the Autographed Vince Young Football? Steve and Donna Wesling! UT alumni, right? NOPE! Steve went to University of Miami and Donna’s alma mater is A&M (given away by her Gig’em sign). No matter where they went to school, that football will be a collector’s item.