{"id":247107,"date":"2025-09-22T20:09:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/247107\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T20:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:09:19","slug":"houston-luncheon-honors-decade-of-equality-with-record-turnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/247107\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston luncheon honors decade of equality with record turnout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What:<\/strong> Studio 39 Kick Off for Citizens for Animal Protection Gala<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where:<\/strong> Tootsies<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Scoop: <\/strong>Animal lovers and fashion devotees collided in style as more than 250 guests filled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tootsies.com\/?srsltid=AfmBOopn8RozcDaZ19rcUzEbcS4Szj0OWla3NeIsUAa1JRo9A5J4QvJ2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tootsies<\/a> for the splashy kickoff of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cap4pets.org\/support-us\/157-news\/6547-studio39\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Citizens for Animal Protection Celebrity Paws Gala, Studio 39<\/a>. The evening\u2019s stars weren\u2019t just the humans. Honorees and their furry sidekicks earned cheers as they paraded before the crowd, previewing the November f\u00eate where they\u2019ll strut the runway together.<\/p>\n<p>Beloved emcee <strong>Andy Cerota<\/strong>, last year\u2019s Pet Champion, kept tails wagging while honorary chairs <strong>Ben Ackerley<\/strong> and <strong>Emily Kirby<\/strong>, and <strong>Daphne<\/strong> and <strong>Steve Savva<\/strong> were introduced. Honorees <strong>Iraida Brown<\/strong>, <strong>Melanie Camp<\/strong>, <strong>Emily Carruth<\/strong>, <strong>Kellie Geitner<\/strong>, <strong>Tori Halbert<\/strong>, <strong>Mandy Kao<\/strong>, <strong>Kimberly <\/strong>and <strong>David King<\/strong>, <strong>Jenna Morris<\/strong> and <strong>Sarah Morris<\/strong>, <strong>Suzanne <\/strong>and <strong>Adam Stiles<\/strong>, and <strong>Sarah Vercher<\/strong> took their moment in the spotlight. The applause continued for award recipients: Melcher Humanitarian of the Year <strong>Edna Meyer-Nelson<\/strong>, Hall of Fame inductee <strong>Brian Spack<\/strong>, Heart of Gold honoree <strong>Mary Kenner<\/strong>, and Canine Hero Olly with handler <strong>Charley Oxley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Signature sips like The Cat\u2019s Meow and A Dog\u2019s Life (with a splash of Branson Cognac) added a playful twist, while a bubbly cart courtesy of Sire Spirits kept the party sparkling. Gala co-chairs <strong>Angela Hernandez <\/strong>and <strong>Kamisha Mickey<\/strong> helped raise more than $15,000 toward the gala\u2019s fundraising goal \u2014 sweetened by the promise of a shiny 2025 Subaru BRZ donation from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westhoustonsubaru.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">West Houston Subaru<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who:<\/strong> <strong>Christine Johnson<\/strong>, <strong>Jody Merritt<\/strong>, <strong>Sandi Mercado<\/strong>, <strong>Beth Wolff<\/strong>, <strong>Anna Kaplan<\/strong>, <strong>Dean Putterman<\/strong>, <strong>Gloria Meszaros<\/strong>, Dr.<strong> Monica Patel<\/strong>, <strong>Lexi Marek<\/strong>, Dr.<strong> Alice Mao<\/strong>, <strong>Norman Lewis<\/strong>, <strong>Debbie Festari<\/strong>, <strong>Daniel Brown<\/strong>, <strong>Alex Blair<\/strong>, <strong>Chris Beverly<\/strong>, <strong>Janeen Comer<\/strong>, <strong>Sandra Cooper-Smith<\/strong>, <strong>Bryce Kennard<\/strong>, <strong>Ghada Ali<\/strong>, <strong>Hershey Grace<\/strong>, <strong>Marcellus Upshaw<\/strong>, <strong>Lidiya Deane<\/strong>, <strong>Shelley Pieri<\/strong>, <strong>Samantha-Anne Nadolny<\/strong>, <strong>Stacy Logan<\/strong>, <strong>Lisa Gochman<\/strong>, <strong>Julie Nguyen<\/strong>, <strong>Tina Ho<\/strong>, <strong>Marie Liz Garcia<\/strong>, <strong>Kyle McLaughlin<\/strong>, <strong>Elizabeth Martin<\/strong>, and <strong>Dena Musty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What: Studio 39 Kick Off for Citizens for Animal Protection Gala Where: Tootsies The Scoop: Animal lovers and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":247108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[15045,4345,5603,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-247107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-fundraisers","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-lgbtq","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115249766229108987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}