15th annual Power of the Purse sees record-breaking attendance

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health will host its 15th annual Power of the Purse luncheon featuring guest speaker Ben Carson, M.D. and their purse auction on Thursday, with events beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Amarillo Civic Center Heritage Ballroom.

This year's event will host a record breaking number of purses, with more than 180 bags available for auction ranging from stadium bags estimated to be priced around $20 to custom Chanel pieces ranging upwards of $10,000. The event will include keynote speaker Carson, who served not only as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, but is the youngest director to be named. Carson has since retired from medicine, but served as the 17th Secretary of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. Carson is the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute.

"I have wanted Dr. Carson to speak with Power of the Purse for many years and was pleasantly surprised when we were able to make that happen this year. One of the things that I don't think many know about Dr. Carson is that he was one of many children raised by a mother with a third-grade education. He grew up with such adversity and turned into such a brilliant surgeon. He became the youngest department chair at John Hopkins, which is not a little thing, and also has 60 honorary doctorate degrees," said Angela Knapp Eggers, senior director of the TTUHSC Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health.

"I think everyone in attendance will be impressed with his story, and I think that many will learn beyond the face of Dr. Carson and will hear more of his personal story of what drove him through adversity and how he came out the other end so successful," Knapp Eggers added.

The doors to the Power of the Purse event will open at 10:30 a.m., beginning with the purse auction. At 11:30 a.m., lunch will be served, with program beginning at 12:15 p.m.

To date, the Power of the Purse has raised more than $4 million through the auctioning of donated handbags from top designers, celebrities and stylish locals. Each year, the organization utilizes the funds raised to benefit scientific investigation, further medical scholarships and aid community programs.

Callie Holton, co-chair of Power of the Purse, stated that although the event does revolve around women's health, women are not the only individuals in the audience, as women's health impacts everyone.

"I am excited see this room full of not only women, but men, and that is kind of attributed to having that male speaker in the room. Women's health affects all of us; we are mothers, daughters, sisters, wives. We are caretakers; we are nurturers. We are forces to be reckoned with, moving and shaking in this community, and it is important to everyone, men and women, that we take care of ourselves," Holton said.

"Our goal is always to appeal to more people. Women's health is a really complex topic, as well as gender medicine, so when we can have more people contributing to this conversation and more people that are aware of what the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health is doing in our community, that just makes us stronger," Holton added.

With this thought in mind, this year's Power of the Purse has something extra to celebrate, with the event already being sold out. This year's event breaks previous records, reaching the maximum allowed guests available in the venue. The event is expected to include 1,100 guests in attendance.

"This is the highest attended event that we have had with Power of the Purse. The only event that came this close was when we had Mrs. Bush as our guest speaker in 2018," Knapp Eggers said.

She said that in the future, they hope to continue to see the community's enthusiasm for the event and said they are already in preparation for next year's event, with presale tickets available later this year.

To preview the items available for auction Thursday, or to learn more about the event, go online to www.thepowerofthepurse.org .

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Power of the Purse hosts keynote speaker Ben Carson, bag auction