Latke Ball Breaks Records for Major Success
Wow, what an incredible night! The 12th Annual Latke Ball was a rousing success. More than 1,000 party-goers braved the rain and filled Ruby Skye to the brim on Christmas Eve in the name of fun, friends, charity and Dreidel Dreidel cocktails.
The evening began with a special VIP reception on the balcony, which featured delectable desserts by Eliot Collins Catering, Prairie Organic Vodka and Barefoot Bubbly champagne to get the party started. DJ Danman provided a sexy, loungy soundtrack and his live percussion took things to the next level. DJ Solomon took over at halftime and kept everyone grooving until the 2 a.m. finish when the dance floor was still packed and eventually Ruby Skye staff had to politely ask people to make their way towards the exit. That's my definition of a victorious event! We are happy to report that we smashed all previous records for money raised at the Latke Ball.
All proceeds will fund the entire year's worth of programming for the Young Adults Division (YAD) of the Jewish Community Federation. This includes subsidizing the Club Fed seminar series, funding the educational speakers series and providing scholarships for UJC's National Young Leadership Conference in New Orleans this March. On the day we began planning the Latke Ball, my fearless co-chair, Nathaniel and I decided to designate a special beneficiary organization to receive a portion of the proceeds. This had never been done before, but we felt it was important to show the community that young adults care about causes that may not directly benefit us personally. We selected Camp Tawonga and we're thrilled to be able to provide the Jewish camp scholarships for children. Even after this donation, our net profits beat the previous record by 23.5 percent.
It was not a Hanukkah miracle that the Latke Ball came together so well. A large debt of gratitude goes to the stellar host committee, which ran like a well-oiled machine reminiscent of the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV. Everyone used their talents, energy and humor to make planning the event even more rewarding and the final outcome so successful. Tamara Wolfson, Nira Goren, Nicole Miller, Ryan Cohen, Erin Leonard, Aren Sandersen and Raphy Mahpour -- you guys rock! I owe an enormous thank you to Andrea Skor, Co-Vice President of Community Building for YAD for all of her tireless efforts. I appreciate her unending enthusiasm and care for every event detail down to which shade of "Jewish blue" the napkins should be. More thanks go out to YAD staff members Stephanie Brown, Dina Jacobson and Abra Annes, who kept everything on track and made the night run as smoothly as possible. Also, thank you to YAD Board President Jordan Sills and to all of the YAD board members and everyone else who volunteered at the event. Finally, a massive thank you to my partner-in-crime, Nathaniel, who kept the Excel spreadsheets rolling, the emails flowing, the to-do lists expanding and made working on the Latke Ball a total blast. Your goal from the very beginning was to 'pimp the party' and we can now say with confidence, mission accomplished!
Check out more photos from this year's Latke Ball, Party 4 a Purpose! Alexis Marina Kershner Latke Ball Co-Chair Young Adults Division Board
