“Great Futures Start Here.” That’s what the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston is all about. And the Great Futures Dinner: Resilient Together was a big step in ensuring that will happen, as it raised more than $900,000 to support high quality after-school and summer programming for some 30,000 children and teens who walk through the doors of its 23 clubs every year. The dinner, attended by more than 600 enthusiastic BGCGH supporters, is the nonprofit’s premier fundraising event of the year and is a showcase to the Houston community on how BGCGH positively impacts the lives of area youth every day and helps them achieve great futures.

Guests began arriving at the Hilton Americas hotel downtown at 5:30 p.m. for the VIP reception honoring major donors and cocktail hour. They were able to mix and mingle and peruse the silent auction items before being seated in the ballroom at 7 p.m. and treated to a dance performance by Club members. Emcee for the evening was Yve Rojas, with co-emcee Austin J., a Wharton Dobson Club member. Rojas also served as the high-energy auctioneer for the live auction.

The corporate and community honorees were then recognized, including presenting sponsor Sysco and the Mary Louise Dobson Foundation. It was an emotional time when Michelle Young, the wife of BGCGH board chairman, Julius Young, who passed away Sept. 22, announced the new “Julius Young Youth of the Year Award,” named in honor of her husband. Later in the evening, she presented a $10,000 scholarship to Robert Ellis from the Johnny Mitchell Club in Galveston and now a freshman at Xavier University. He is the first recipient of the “Julius Young Youth of the Year Award.”

A live auction including a ski vacation, a wine country trip and NASCAR driving experience (among other items) contributed to the evening’s bottom line, thanks to the mastery and persuasiveness of Yve Rojas.

Closing out the evening was a moving musical performance by Club youth and a thank you video to all who made the 2021 Great Futures Dinner: Resilient Together possible, along with a final “paddles up” appeal for donations to support continued programming.