Hospitality House Hosts Benefit
QUILTED REPRESENTATION: Standing in front of a quilt representing old-fashioned hospitality across America are, from left, Brad Henderson, entertainer for the event: Julie Sumner, fundraising chair for the event; Toni Moore, president of the Hospitality House of Tulsa; and Joe Kelley, emcee of the event.
LESLIE GREGORY for GTR Newspapers
The Hospitality House of Tulsa, located on the Hillcrest Medical Center campus, held its annual fundraiser, “Big Band, Big Heart,” June 12 at the DoubleTree Hotel at Warren Place, 6110 S Yale Ave.
The benefit dinner concert and silent auction featured the amazing musicality of Brad Henderson and Friends. Henderson spent five years touring abroad with Up With People as a band leader, bassist, sound engineer and show manager. Henderson then worked for Northeastern State University in Tahlequah as the manager of the NSU Jazz Lab. He also served for five years as the director/pianist for the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Henderson’s arranging credits include the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Tulsa Signature Symphony (Sinfonia), the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra, the Walton Arts Center, FBC Atlanta and literally hundreds of churches around the world. He is currently serving as the Worship Pastor at Crescent Valley Baptist Church near Fort Gibson, Okla. He was joined by eight other talented musicians hailed as Green Country’s finest instrumentalists. The vocalist for the evening was Jeff Shadley.
Joining the entertainment as emcee at the fundraiser was KRMG Morning News Host Joe Kelley.
Kelley has been recognized many times for his success as an on-air personality and leader in the community. He has received awards from Radio and Records magazine, Radio Ink magazine, the Dallas Press Club, Las Vegas Women in Communications, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Oklahoma Journal Record, among others. He is an active member of the Rotary Club of Tulsa. Kelley’s proudest achievement is his family, which includes his wife Nicole, son Joey, daughter Sierra and twin sons Hudson and Brooks. As a talk show host, writer, blogger, marathon runner, two-time cancer survivor, husband and father, Kelley strives to practice the same ethics in business as he does in his home life: honesty, quality and steadfast purpose. The audience was entertained with swing style music, including patriotic, gospel and standards. With Hospitality House of Tulsa serving all Tulsa hospitals and families from 24 states in the USA, the evening held many patriotic tributes as well with some very special guests as they celebrated “Hospitality Across America.”
All proceeds from the event benefit The Hospitality House of Tulsa, a local 501©(3) charity formed to provide a “home away from home” for families caring for loved ones in medical crisis.
The organization has already served more than 450 families in its first two years of service.
Sponsors for the event included Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Hillcrest Medical Center, First Bank of Owasso, Coldwell Banker RaderGroup Realtors, First National Bank & Trust of Broken Arrow, the Doyl and Donna West Family, Kevin and Sheri Willson, Louis Blosch Insurance Agency, Ruhrpumpen, Inc., United Healthcare, Saturday Market, Doug and LaJean Roper and The Orthopaedic Center.
For more information, visit www.tulsahospitalityhouse.org.
Updated 06-24-2008
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