Charleston magazine Society blog

Guests at Thursday night’s Bark Show at the Wickliffe House—a Margo Kaufman Gallery event to benefit Pet Helpers Adoption Center—were treated to the largest exhibition Margo has ever hosted.  The show featured nine contemporary artists, including painters Kat Hastie and Townsend Davidson joined by the newly discovered Sally Benedict and Kate Long Stevenson, just to name a few. Guests wandered upstairs and down and on the porches viewing paintings, sculptures, and furniture/objects d’art handcrafted by Michael Moran and enjoying Mr. Koolie’s ice cream treats, eclectic wines from Vidalco International, and catering by Mediterra. The front lawn seemed to be the hot spot.  The area allowed dogs to run about and play and to show off for their prospective owners.  

As an added bonus to the evening, art enthusiasts got the opportunity to witness the launch of the Margo T-shirt collection. There were two different designs, one with Margo’s face screen-printed in bright orange on the front and the other with the words “I Art”.  Excited to see that I had purchased one of these fabulous creations, Margo Kaufman owner Jeffery Rhodes commented on the quality of the T-shirt saying, “These are no Fruit of the Loom.”  Jeffery, I will wear it with pride.  Sales of the Margo T-shirts will ensure the continued support and promotion of emerging contemporary artists.

A portion of sales from the event will go to fund the capital campaign to underwrite the new 14,000 square foot Pet Helpers Adoption Shelter and Low Cost Spay/Neuter Clinic at 1447 Folly Road, James Island.

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On Wednesday, June 25^th, the first Charleston Chapter Buoniconti Fund wine reception was hosted at Social Restaurant + Wine Bar on East Bay Street. In 1985, Barth A. Green, M.D. and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti helped found The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis after Nick’s son, Marc, sustained a spinal cord injury during a Citadel football game.

Denise Mills, the event host and volunteer regional committee member for the Charleston Chapter, coordinated a beautiful spread of wines, fine cheeses, Godiva chocolates, and appetizers provided by Soif Café.
 

The crowd was light for the first hour, so I took the opportunity to learn more about the organization. Denise and I chatted about how she became involved with the Buoniconti Fund and she told me her heart-wrenching story about how she was hit by a drunk driver and parlayed from the neck down. Thinking that she would never walk or just function that way she use too, she heard about the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis during her rehabilitation treatment and regained hope. Just to let you know, Denise does not use a wheelchair and is literally a walking miracle.  
 

As guests got their fill of drink and food, John Stephens, volunteer regional director of the Charleston Chapter, spoke to the guests and shared a video highlighting the lives of some people with spinal cord injuries who are associated with the cause. A few of these individuals were in the crowd as well and thanked the Buoniconti Fund for their support and continued efforts to raise awareness.  

More than $7,000 was raised for research efforts at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world’s largest spinal cord injury research center located at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. The Charleston Chapter of The Buoniconti Fund is one of our many volunteer chapters throughout the country.

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The Daniel Island community loves to throw parties, and there’s no better reason than for a great cause. On Friday, June 27th, the second annual Abby’s Friends Gala, an all volunteer, not for profit organization dedicated to raising awareness for juvenile diabetes, and to raising money for advancing juvenile diabetes research, at the Daniel Island Club was no exception. It seemed like everyone on Daniel Island attended this event as more than 350 people showed up to party and give back.

The day started out for many partygoers with the Abbys’ Friends Charity Golf Classic at the Daniel Island Club Ralston Creek Course. I wondered why I saw so many sun-burned faces in the crowd. The ladies came dressed to kill in brightly colored patterns. They also came ready to bid. Tracey Mullaney and Ashley Stock were tag teaming the auction tables with their eyes particularly glued to the exquisite handbag by Mary Norton. Speaking of the auction items, as I cruised around from table to table, I could not help but notice that most people did not start biding at the minimum amount, they started biding on the items at their retail value. So basically that meant that I was out of the running on everything, but great news for Abby’s Friends.

I was so glad to see that this was not a sit-down dinner. Guests got to enjoy a buffet style dinner that consisted of a pasta and shrimp and grits station, smoked salmon on black bread, blackened shrimp with pimento cheese on crostinis, and crab cakes—all my faves. Those and the bananas fosters station!The live auction started around nine o’ clock and was emceed by Channel 2 anchor Brad Franko. Bidding on all 8 live auction items could have gone on forever, but the surprise of the night was auction item #7, a yellow Lab puppy named Wando. This sweet pup went for $2,500, and Tracy and Jennifer Poudrier are 100% in LOVE. The biggest ticket item was a two-golfer trip to Pebble Beach to play in the Lexus Champions for Charity Event, and John Sutterlin and Brian Keller will hit the greens in December to attend this spectacular event. This item went for $17,000, and the golfers will play for $100,000 in prize money to be donated to Abby’s Friends.

Once the excitement from the bidding wars died down, people danced the night away to the sounds of Plane Jane. The event raised more than $160,000 benefiting the MUSC Children’s Hospital, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and Camp Adam Fisher.

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