Photos by Anna Hanson
On Friday, the United Way of La Porte County filled the Stardust Event Center at the Blue Chip Casino to celebrate their annual Gala in style this year with a ‘James Bond’ theme. Tuxedos, black ties, and ritzy gowns were standard attire at the fundraising event that featured martinis, a James Bond look-a-like and a few Bond Girls who also provided the evening's entertainment.
To see more photos from the event, click here!
“This year's Gala is the ‘Secret Agent Gala’,” said Kris Pate, Executive Director of the United Way of LaPorte County. ”We’re taking advantage of this being the opening of the new ‘Spectre’ movie and Belvedere is a sponsor for the event, and also in the new James Bond movie he asks for a Belvedere Martini. We have some of the Special Edition bottles here that light up and I gotta say it’s all really exciting.”
“This is our biggest gala of the year so it’s one of our biggest fundraisers that we have,” Pate said. “We’re hoping to raise a lot of money for our children and youth programs. There are over twenty agencies that receive funding from the United Way right now and a lot of those are youth serving so that’s what we’re really focusing on tonight. We really appreciate the way the community supports the United Way. This is just such a fun time. People get to come out, and they love to get dressed up and enjoy the evening in a beautiful setting. It’s just a wonderful time!“
The Blue Chip Casino has been a long supporter of the United Way of La Porte County back to when Boyd Gaming was established. Speaking about that and the work the casino does in the community was Jack Elia, Assistant General Manager at Blue Chip and United Way of La Porte County Board Member.
“Boyd Gamings relationship with the United Way started when we first started the company with Sam Boyd, the original founder,” Elia said. “He chose United Way as his charity of choice and ever since then we do a huge campaign for the United Way throughout twenty-two of our properties.”
“This year's theme is ‘007’ and we worked with Belvedere last year and they told us that James Bond was going to start drinking Belvedere Martinis,” said Elia. “We said ‘how about doing an event’ and they said ‘absolutely, we’re behind you 100%’. We just got lucky that we picked November 6th and it comes out today.”
At this year's Gala, the United Way held a silent auction that featured over 50+ items. Local food and beverage vendors from the region lined the walls of the Stardust and served up some of the finest food and drinks around. There from Fiddlehead in Michigan City, which opened in 2015, was Mary Koselke.
“United Way gives so much to so many different organizations,” said Koselke. “They are great neighbors, wonderful people to know and anything we want to do to help them we want to do it. We have a very strong social push. Anytime someone calls us and asks us to be part of something that helps the community we’re going to do it. Jack Elia called us and asked us to be a part of the event and it’s a no brainer. It’s totally a great cause.”
Echoing those sentiments was Sam Lubeznik, owner, and operator of multiple McDonald’s locations in La Porte County.
“The United Way always throw a great party and it’s always a great cause,” said Lubeznik. “It’s the definition of a win-win. There isn’t anyone here who isn’t having a great time. At the end of the night, we get to do something good for, I mean, you name it. Every time I talk to Kris Pate I learn about another, not one or two, but like a half dozen things that they’ve added every year. Who wouldn’t want to get behind that and support it? They’re really in it to make the greatest impact they can in the community. Ultimately that’s what we all should want. Whatever makes our area a better place.”