Our third annual Waltzing for Wishes gala theme was “…it is all to be made of fantasy…all made of passion…and all made of wishes…” Shakespeare and wow did it speak volumes as our event was held in Lubbock on Saturday, February 7, 2009. We are excited to share that through the tremendous support of our volunteer’s and the chapter’s circle of friends we were able to not only reach our goal set by the committee but exceed it. The room was filled with over 250 people who wanted to share the power of a wish®. The evening began with a triple entree buffet meanl and the very moving Chris Gracis video. Then with a whirlwind our dance competition began featuring six local celebrities and our “Star light dancer”. Our celebrities included Dr. Nawal Zeitouni, Emily Leonard, Matt Laubhan, Dr. Tracy Wilson and Phebe Ellis-Roach. However, the real celebrity of the evening was our very own Wish Kid, Mallory, was our little princess that night as she and our professional dancer Joshua danced to “A wish is a dream” as our Starlight dancer. The competition was fierce as each dancer took personal ballroom lessons to bring their moves to the floor. However, ultimately there could only be two winners. Best male dancer went to Dr. Tracy Wilson while Emily Leonard tool home the trophy for the best female dancer. There is always room for one more prize though and so the audience all voted for the crowd favortie that went to Phebe Ellis-Roach. The whole evening’s festivites were emceed by Lubbock’s media personality Bryan Mudd.

We would like to send out a special thank you to our gala chairs Kelli Marshall and Jana Price who with the help of the 2009 Waltzing for Wishes committee Sandy Craven, Anissa King, Liz Kessler, Jay King, Terry McNeill, Beth McNeill, Charlotte Shropshire, Wayne Ware and Paula Wims mad this great evening a huge success. Without them and our gracious sponsors this evening would not have been made possible. This year’s sponsors include: Overhead Door Company, Oberkampf Supply of Lubbock, covenant Hospital, McDougal Reality, Plains Capital Bank, Velma Medina Real Estate, PALS, SuddenLink, Tri-Tex Grass, Global Health Chiropractic, Custom Homes by Robert Wood, XStream Autoclean, Rothwell Enterprises, PrimeWest Mortgage Corp., First Bank and Trust, David Rogers Homes, KAMC and KLBK media, Alante Floral, Sigh Pro, AIM Bank, Crestview Elementary School, Interim Health Care of West Texas, Director’s Choice, Lubbock Temporary Help Services, Lubbock Abstract and Title Company, Great Southwest Sales, Double T Smiles, Craig Wallace Construction, Cash Register Services and TGI Friday’s. One last acknowledgement to Carlus and Josie with “For the Love of Dance” for giving so much of their time and instruction to our celebrities to teach them to dance!