Handbag Happy Hour doubles previous year’s totals

The 8th Annual Handbag Happy Hour came to a successful close on Friday night, November 5th raising a NET total of $35,883.00 for the Island Coast AIDS Network (ICAN). The total for the evening was twice as high as the previous year which brought in $17,821.00. Over 250 designer and celebrity handbags were purchased and bid upon during the event which was held at the Miromar Design Center in Estero. All funds raised from the Handbag Happy Hour go towards providing vital support services to ICAN clients such as food, transportation and counseling to over 400 HIV/AIDS infected individuals and their families in Southwest Florida. Celebrity purse donations played a big part of the fund raising success with donations sent by such stars as Reba McEntire, Gwyneth Paltrow, Taylor Swift, Kim Basinger, Florence Henderson, Glenn Close and others. In addition to the celebrity donations CHICO’S designer Michael Chase created a one-of-a-kind bag for the live auction and an additional one-of-a-kind creation was also donated by Naples purse designer Pam Durkin. The collection of donated purses from retailers, designers, celebrities and individuals surrounded the design center atrium and kept participants’ involved for four hours in silent and live auctions. Sponsors of this year’s event included CHICO’S FAS, Miromar Design Center, The Office Pub, Jason’s Deli, The Norton Miller Group of Morgan Stanley, Smith, Barney, Meyers, Brettholtz and Company and Mail-Meds Clinical Pharmacy.