JDRF’s The OneParty Supports Type 1 Diabetes Research

JDRF, a nonprofit organization that advocates for and funds type 1 diabetes (T1D) research, presented the OneParty on Friday, April 21st. Committee members were OneParty Chair Liz Seade; Auction Co-Chairs Colby Imbrie and Karen Ungar; OneClassic Co-Chairs Elise Bridges and Kathryn Ary; and OnePickle Chair Nancy Pollak. The OneParty raised more than $2 million dollars for Type 1 diabetes research. During the day, guests enjoyed a golf tournament at the Lions Golf Course and a pickleball tournament at Lost Creek Country Club’s newly unveiled courts. That evening, The OneParty’s “One Starry Night In Texas” featured a cocktail reception under the stars at the AT&T Conference Center followed by dinner, dancing, silent and live auctions as well as dueling pianos.

This annual event helps drive awareness for JDRF’s “Fund a Cure” campaign. “Fund A Cure” donations go directly to research, are 100 percent tax deductible and fund science that is making medical history. Since its inception, JDRF has contributed more than $12.8 billion to T1D research and currently has more than 500 active grants around the world driving progress. JDRF’s goal is to progressively remove the impact of T1D from people’s lives until we achieve a world without type 1 diabetes. To learn more about JDRF, visit www.jdrf.org/ southerntexas.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Celebrates Opening of Seventh Area Family Room

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas (RMHC CTX) celebrated the opening of the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Dell Children’s Medical Center North Campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 26. This is the seventh Ronald McDonald Family Room in Central Texas to support families with critically ill and injured children. The Family Room is now open to families with hospitalized children aged 21 and under.

The Ronald McDonald Family Room allows families to rest and regroup in a comforting environment while always being steps away from their hospitalized child. Typically located near the neonatal intensive care units (NICU) or pediatric intensive care units (PICU), the Family Room provides families a place to recharge, grab a bite to eat, shower, or sleep so they can stay strong for their children.

“We are thrilled to have the Ronald McDonald Family Room right here inside our hospital to provide comfort, support, and resources to families with children in our care,” said Cathy Heckenlively, DNP, MHA, RN, Chief Administrative Officer at Dell Children’s Medical Center North Campus.

Book Review

By Forrest Preece

Many West Austinites know Ramona Kelly from her years as the senior director of development for The Wittliff Collections and as an award-winning documentary producer with a national reputation. But her recently published memoir reveals that life gave her a steep climb to reach this point.

Kelly’s memoir “What Comes Next” isn’t a Hallmark story, though it does have a happy ending. It’s more Erskine Caldwell mixed with Little Women/Jo March, plus chunks of Grey’s Anatomy and Drugstore Cowboy.

I thought I kind of knew Ramona Kelly, but I hadn’t even scratched the surface. She’s impressed me as an excellent writer and documentary producer, but we really never had a chance to intersect on projects during my four decades in the local advertising business.

After reading an advance copy of her book What Comes Next, my eyes have been opened. With her words, she strapped me in and took me on the jumbo roller coaster of her life. It starts with her poor childhood in a rural farm setting outside of Shreveport. Her father died when she was so young she barely remembers him. It didn’t take long for her mother to marry a dairy farmer who lived nearby. After lingering with the aftereffects of a brain-damaging stroke for many years, he also died and left Ramona’s mother with no marketable skills and a houseful of kids.

PHOTO BY HOLLY REED her career in Austin advertising. t s ch we n a

With that hardscrabble childhood weighing her down, Ramona could have caved, married a hometown boy, and settled for a marginal life.

But in school, she took it on herself to square her shoulders, become president of the student council, an honor student, a club joiner, and a beauty pageant queen. In her college career at LSU, at one point she had to drop out for lack of funds, but she amassed enough savings from a waitress job to transfer to the University of Texas, earn a degree, and begin

Along the way, she acquired a husband, Scott, who became sales manager for a local TV station and started an ad agency with Ramona as his business partner. (Before they opened their agency, I had used him as a free-lance photographer.) Her book reveals that he was also a cocaine addict who robbed a pharmacy and a bank, dealt drugs, and wound up in Leavenworth. He was paroled, arrested again for drug possession, and died as a ward of the federal government. They divorced after nine years together and she remarried, but that marriage ended in divorce, too.

In spite of all that, Ramona raised two exemplary daughters who have had great success in life. She also became an award-winning documentary producer and, as I stated above, had a stint as the senior director of development for the prestigious Wittliff Collections. Oh – then there was “the brain thing,” as she calls it –– a subdural hematoma in the middle of the pandemic and Austin’s great winter storm of 2021. It’s a gripping read, written by one tough woman. Highly recommended. (It is available on Amazon.)