GONZALES — Just days after the Gonzales City Council denied the Hispanic Heritage Festival funding for its annual Cancer Gala, a group of donors is stepping up to make sure the event goes off without a hitch.
Festival president Maria Truett and treasurer Samara Welch thought they would have to cancel this year’s gala. However, after reading UWK’s article about what happened at the meeting, Scot Byrd, a former Gonzales City Clerk, couldn’t let that happen.
“I know Maria very well, and it kind of broke my heart,” Byrd said. “I mean, after all, it is the City of Gonzales. It’s got Hispanic roots. And I just felt terrible that, you know, that happened like that,” Byrd said.
Truett and Welch had been planning to host the gala at the Pace Center, after Truett said Mayor Tim Riley told her during last year’s gala that the group could use the center to host the next one. On Monday, they were told the city couldn’t lawfully give the group the building to use.
Byrd told UWK that he does think the city council made the right call in denying the use of the Pace Center, because it didn’t pass the Cabela’s test. The Cabela’s test is a way to check if a local government is giving away the use of public property for free in a way that counts as an illegal donation.
“The council actually did make the right vote, because the Cabela’s test does have certain requirements,” Byrd explained. “To make an exception, you have to meet the Cabela’s test, and they didn’t have the information that they needed to show that the request met the Cabela’s test, so I don’t think they really had a choice but to deny it.”
Byrd told Truett to wait before she officially canceled the gala, and let him make some phone calls.
“I said, if you guys would be willing to hold it at the Civic Center, rather than the Pace Center, which is more expensive, I could probably find a few friends who would come up with the money,” Byrd said.
Byrd reached out to Clay Stafford, who was the city clerk before him, and Gonzales Police Chief Sherman Jackson.
“I reached out to my predecessor. We both love that city, and so I reached out to him, and he said he would contribute,” Byrd said. “And I reached out to the police chief, and he said he would contribute. So then we had it covered.”
Welch was blown away by the good news.
“We are very, very excited,” Welch told UWK. “We were having an emergency meeting because of what happened, and now we’re able to go back and report good news, instead of saying hey, we’re going to have to cancel it.”
Byrd is a cancer survivor and said it’s great to help them with the cancer gala because it raises so much awareness.
“I think that early detection is the key to survival, and I know that one of the missions they’re on is to educate people about the resources that are available for testing and and help people understand,” Byrd said.
“That’s such valuable information. We’re talking about potentially saving some people’s lives,” said Byrd.
The Hispanic Heritage Festival’s Cancer Gala will be held on Nov. 8 at the Civic Center. Tickets will cost $50 a person, and tables will be available. Welch said the gala is open to the public, and tickets will soon be available on Eventbrite.com, but that the event isn’t listed just yet.
All of the money raised will go to help two families who are facing cancer battles. “We do two families in need, and so whatever we have, we split it,” Welch said.
Byrd said he won’t be able to attend the gala because one of his granddaughters has a birthday on November 8.
“We’re just forever indebted to Scot for taking that step to making sure that we could still have the event,” Welch said.
“I couldn’t let that happen like that, you know. So I just felt like I needed to do something to try to help out. And fortunately, I was able to help,” said Byrd.
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