Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — The Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center is bringing purse bingo to Hays County Sept. 12 in an effort to bring awareness to community members.
HCWC is in its 48th year of serving members of the community who face domestic harm, whether it be violence, sexual or child abuse. CEO Melissa Rodriguez shared that HCWC does all it can to provide aid to victims, such as counseling, emergency shelter, transitional housing and accompanying trips to the hospital for medical examinations. Additionally, it advocates and provides education to community members in order to create a safe environment.
As a nonprofit, it runs on donations and grants; therefore, it has run an annual auction each year, but Rodriguez stated that its purse bingo event will be coming to Kyle, after the positive reception in Luling.
“We started [the event] in Caldwell County as a way to connect with the community because we had been serving them for decades and wanting to raise awareness. We wanted to do it in a way that also was fun, but also brought the message to the community. So, we got the idea from other sister centers that are child abuse programs. They started doing designer purse bingos across the state and no one was doing it locally,” explained Rodriguez. “We decided to go ahead and jump on board and it became so popular that this year, we decided to add one in Hays County.”
The CEO noted that Kyle was chosen because of the rapid growth in the area, as it is the second-highest served community within HCWC’s service, according to the CEO.
Attendees that purchase a $70 general admission ticket will receive a dinner and 20 rounds of bingo for a chance to win a designer purse, with pieces from Coach, Kate Spade and more, with a grand prize of a Gucci bag.
Those wishing for reserved seats and tables can sign up for sponsorships that have extra perks, she said.
HCWC also partners with local law enforcement agencies that act as models throughout the event. This not only provides fun entertainment for the night, but is also an opportunity for officers to connect with the community. At the end of the night, a vote is taken — based on the loudest hoot and hollering — for the best model.
“We try to make it a fun, light event, even though the work we do is very heavy and serious and important and critical and, obviously, not something that most people want to have to utilize, but are grateful when it’s needed … It’s not something easy for people to talk about our issues, so this is one of the ways that we found we can be very successful is just getting people connected to the work that we’re doing,” she said.
Aside from the bingo, there will be bucket raffle items, with donations from Tito’s Vodka, Tanger and Premium outlet malls, local restaurants and more.
These fundraisers allow HCWC to continue providing an important program in the community, she said.
“Every dollar that we raise goes directly to serving the survivors that we work with every day,” emphasized Rodriguez, adding that HCWC has no debt, so all funds go toward paying the staff that provide the free and confidential services to clients.
HCWC has a 24-hour HELPline available for those in need: 512-396-4357.
“One in three Texans experience a form of violence. Unfortunately, this is not something people want to talk about, but it is such a relevant and common experience with our neighbors, with our families, with our children. No one asks for this to happen and it can happen to anybody,” she emphasized. “It does not discriminate on your gender, your income, your neighborhood, your good school — it can happen to literally anyone, [aged] 0 to until we’re not here anymore and we see it. Last year, we served 2,279 individuals across all our programs — adults, youth and children — about half of those were children … Everyone wants, or should, and deserves to have a safe home. They deserve to have a healthy relationship. They deserve to have a family that can support children in a healthy, positive way and that’s what our goal is.”
The purse bingo will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Gemstone Palace, 1101 Bunton Creek in Kyle. To learn more about the event or purchase a ticket, visit www.hcwc.org/pursebingo.
