Brooke Bailey and Elizabeth Dacus chaired March 27 fundraiser, with Leigh Anne Haugh as honorary chair
(Dallas, TX) – Community Partners of Dallas (CPD) celebrated its 20th annual Chick Lit Luncheon, presented by Dr. Robert and Lara Tafel, on Friday, March 27 at the Hilton Anatole.Luncheon co-chairs Brooke Bailey and Elizabeth Dacus, with honorary chair Leigh Anne Haugh, were joined by more than 1,100 attendees at the annual event, which featured a conversation with Fox4 Good Day anchor Paige Ellenberger andaward-winning actress, producer and New York Times bestselling author Lauren Graham.
Attendees arrived in their colorful spring attire and mingled as they enjoyed the pre-luncheon reception in the Chantilly Ballroom foyer. New this year were Mission Experience installations, including miniature versions of CPD’s Night Response unit and Rainbow Room emergency resource center, an interactive Kids in Crisis program installation and larger than life display of the goods distributed through Community Partners of Dallas’ four annual drives. Aswell – attendees were invited to select two pinwheels – one for them and one to give to a friend - from a beautiful wall of blue pinwheels to help spread awareness about April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month. In the nearby Wedgwood Ballroom, top sponsors gathered for champagne and a meet and greet and photo opportunity with Graham.
Raffle tickets were also being sold with guests purchasing chances to win exciting prizes, a Valentino bag courtesy of Neiman Marcus; two business class round-trip tickets from Dallas to Paris with Air France; two first class, round trip tickets from Delta Air Lines; a $3,500 Eiseman Jewels gift card and personal concierge shopping experience; a $2,000 gift card for design and organization services from The Container Store, including custom space components and completion products; and a Dallas Mavs night in the Hilti American Airlines suite with 12 tickets and four parking passes.
At the appointed time, attendees took their seats in the ballroom as co-chairs Bailey and Dacus welcomed all in attendance at the 20th anniversary of the Chick Lit Luncheon.
Bailey said, “As we look out into this room of fabulous supporters – we are reminded of just how far this luncheon has come in the past 20 years - from our first luncheon of 400 guests at Brook Hollow to this packed Chantilly Ballroom, one thing has remained true. CPD has continuously provided for the immediate and urgent needs of abused and neglected children in Dallas and has supported the caseworkers who stand alongside those children. And we could not make that meaningful impact without people like you. Thank you all for being here –it is going to be a great day!”
Dacus followed to recognize honorary chair Leigh Anne Haugh, as well as presenting sponsor, Dr. Robert and Lara Tafel, and their daughter Mimi, for their long-standing support of Community Partners of Dallas. She then directed everyone’s attention to a special video highlighting supporter Paper Affair and its 19 years as a Chick Lit Luncheon supporter. CPD president and CEO Joanna Clarke welcomed Paper Affair owner Melissa Wayte to the stage to present her with the 20th Anniversary Partners in Celebration Award.
The reverend Elizabeth Moseley, senior associate minister of discipleship and culture at First United Methodist Church of Dallas, lead the invocation before the co-chairs returned to the podium again for a surprise. They asked all attendees to look under their chairs–with one lucky partygoer winning two complimentary first class, round-trip tickets to anywhere in the continental 48 on Delta Airlines.
Following, guests enjoyed a delicious lunch of Emily Gilmore’s formal dinner salad with roasted chicken breast, Boston lettuce, poached pear, candied pecan, gorgonzola and champagne vinaigrette, followed by dessert of Sookie’s celebration cake.
As dessert was enjoyed, avideo began which highlighted the transformational support this year’s Paige McDaniel Partners for Children Award recipient, Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides. AWS has been a steadfast partner to CPD since 2018 investing in its mission through generous corporate support and year-round volunteer engagement. CPD president and CEO Joanna Clarke was then joined onstage by AWS representative Alberto Bayarena, who accepted the award on the company’s behalf.
Clarke remained at the podium to thank all for attending the milestone luncheon, which began its first year at Brook Hollow Golf Club with just 400 attendees, to the now 20th anniversary year at the Hilton Anatole with over 1,100 in attendance this year. She also extended her gratitude to luncheon chairs and honorary chairs, past and present, who have collectively raised over $10 million dollars and helped CPD host more than 17,000 luncheon guests.
Clarke then shared a story about sisters Tiana, age 7, and Kiara, age 5, whose mother struggled with untreated depression, anger and addiction. After their mom was arrested, the police brought the girls to the Night Response Unit at CPD with everything they owned in a single plastic bag. That’s where Community Partners of Dallas first stepped in—with new clothes, toys and other needed items.
CPD helped their aunt with a deposit to move into a bigger apartment so that the girls had a bedroom, and provided beds for them to sleep on. The organization also paid for Tiana to play on the soccer team and for Kiara to go to summer camp.
She also stated that this year Community Partners of Dallas will once again serve more than 20,000 Dallas County kids ranging from newborns to young adults. The children CPD serves battle hunger, anger, neglect, violence, poverty and desperation; 54% of its client population lives on less than $14,000 per year and 90% live on less than $30,000 annually. Over the last year, CPD’semergency resource center, the Rainbow Room, has served an average of more than 980 children each month distributing among other things baby formula, car seats, pajamas, school uniforms, hygiene and cleaning supplies, and birthday and holiday gifts, and its Kids in Crisis program doubled itssupport last year, providing more than $310,000 in financial support to help with housing, food, transportation, medical expenses, extracurricular experiences and more.
She then introduced a powerful video that showed a glimpse into the work that CPD’s partner caseworkers do every single day to galvanize families, strengthen resources, and to keep kids safe.
In closing Clarke asked attendees to consider an additional donation to support CPD’s important work and programs. In response, donation cards were raised throughout the room for gifts of all sizes from $135, which empowers four children to start the school year fully equipped with supplies they need, to $10,000, which can purchase 135 new car seats.
CPD vice president of development and communications Samantha Eppler followed to introduce the day’s moderator, Fox4 Good Day anchor Paige Ellenberger, and the much-anticipated featured speaker, Lauren Graham.
Ellenberger and Graham then settled into the Chick Lit “living room”for a memorable chat. Their thoughtful discussion covered topics from Graham’s role as the grandmother in Colleen Hoover’s new movie, “Reminders of Him”; her fond, and funny, memories of her time in Dallas as a graduate student at Southern Methodist University; her career beginnings; her iconic roles as mom Lorelai Gilmore on the popular TV series “Gilmore Girls” and as Sarah Braverman in “Parenthood,” her writing process as a bestselling author; and her longevity as an actor and her gratitude for continuing to be offered opportunities.
In the final minutes – Ellenberger asked a lightening round of questions, which included:
Where’s your happy place? “Japan”
Early bird or night owl? “Night owl”
Favorite stage – Broadway, TV or the big screen? “It’s probably TV –I just feel like I’ve had the best characters there. For TV you get to tell a story over time – you keep getting new pieces of information – that’s just really fun.”
Favorite thing to cook? “Rice – I make really good sushi rice.”
Favorite restaurant in New York? “I love this restaurant – I don’t really want to tell anyone; but you won’t go there, will you? Gene’s. It’s has been around for a long time –it’s old –I love old.”
Which of “Rory’s” boyfriends in “Gilmore Girls” were your favorite? “No, no never...” Do you want to whisper it? “No!”
What was your first concert? “Supervised – my dad brought me along to see James Taylor. Unsupervised - where somebody dropped us off and somebody’s parents were going to pick us up - was Pat Benatar. I felt pretty cool at the time and thought ‘this is going to hold up!’”
What are you streaming? “Oh, I mean everything – I just started the new episodes of “The Comeback;” I really watch an astronomical amount of television – there is nothing I haven’t seen.”
The “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” ending in a cliffhanger – thank you for that – is there ever going to be a reboot? “It gets talked about – there are so many factors involved – I take the Switzerland role of ‘yes, I would do it and do it so happily’– it’s just not up to me.”
As we wrap up, Community Partners of Dallas is of course an incredible organization making sure children feel loved and safe; as one of TV’s most famous moms – what do you hope for the 20,000 abused and neglected children in Dallas County? “I think we have all seen it here today – which is just offering hope, and goodness and kindness and all of the help you are giving. And it is clearly making such an impact and I think that feels so hopeful. I am just so pleased to have been here today.”
As the day came to a close, attendees received a purple Chick Lit favor bag courtesy of promo4good, which included a beautiful box of notecards from PaperAffair, a bag of salty-sweet treats from Austin Pretzel Co, EWC’s Treat face and body mask, bottle water from Sewell, a notepad donated by Tiffany Lawson Property Group, a 20th anniversary Chick Lit pen, and the latest issue of PaperCity magazine.
2026 Chick Lit Luncheon attendees included: Brooke Bailey, Elizabeth Dacus, CPD president and CEO Joanna Clarke, presenting sponsor Dr. Robert and Lara Tafel, honorary chair Leigh Anne Haugh, Mary Bowman Campbell, Paige McDaniel, Cathy James, Lisa Ogle, Greg Nieberding, LaVerne Nieberding, Jill Goldberg, Barrell Jones, Sandy Moore, Mary Parker, Kelley Schadt, Alison Malone, Sally Dutter, Anne Stodghill, Lisa Evans, Jeffery Netzer, Gail Fischer, Stacey Walker, Lisa Evans, Kim Quinn,J ulie Bagley, Megan Steinbach, Jennifer Tobin, Angela Seaman, Ashley Allen, Monica Christopher, Meredith Camp, Lori Christensen, Madison Strode, Andrea Nayfa, Nancy Gopez and Tricia George.
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About Community Partners of Dallas
Since 1989, Community Partners of Dallas has ensured safety and restored dignity and hope to abused and neglected children by providing crucial resources and support to the caseworkers of Dallas County Child Protective Services. Community Partners of Dallas provides items such as winter coats, diapers and formula, holiday gifts, school uniforms, personal hygiene products, food and more, to send the abused children in our community the message that someone does care. Please visit www.communitypartnersdallas.org for more information.