Designer Bag Bingo makes winners of Lakewood Ranch-area nonprofits

Becca Towery has a handbag for all occasions, about 80 in all.

But when the fifth annual Designer Bag Bingo comes to the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota Oct. 10, she is going to need 81.

Towery, who is a co-chair of the event, will need a special, big handbag to carry away the money collected for charity.

Last year's event earned $43,000 that eventually became part of the $153,036 that Sisterhood for Good granted to 40 area nonprofits in June.

The hope is that this year's event will earn even more, and a few factors have the event trending in that direction.

Towery said the event continues to grow and that made it difficult to continue at the Gold Coast Eagle Distributing venue that graciously was donated for the event the first four years. Last year's event was sold out at 183, so Sisterhood for Good went looking for a bigger venue.

Photo by Jay Heater

The Hyatt can host up to 500 for the event and Sisterhood for Good already has sold more than 200 tickets.

Besides having more players, there will be some additional glitz to the event, which includes wine and beer, a buffet dinner, and dessert. This edition will include a fashion show — featuring fashions by the Darci boutique — where a "model" will walk the runway before each game to showcase the designer bag that will correspond with that game.

Also, those who want to walk away with a new purse will have more chances to do so than the nine Bingo games. If they don't win one, they can purchase a selection of gently-used designer bags in the silent auction portion of the event, or they can bid on a special Marc Jacobs purse during a live auction.

The theme for this year's event is "Rocks the Runway."

The nine designer bags that will be the actual prizes include the names Prada, Valentino, Ferragamo, Saint Laurent, Burberry, Tory Burch and Marc Jacobs with values going up to $3,200 for a purse. The bags all were purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue with Saks' April Norris contributing her expertise to the effort.

Towery notes the love of handbags has been a lifelong passion for her. 

"When I was 3, my grandmother had an old trunk and it was full of handbags, dresses, shoes," Towery said. "I always was interested in fashion.

"I have handbags for cocktails, for every day, for the beach, for different occasions, and different looks. I have a hobo bag. Every look is different."

She said her favorite bag on the prize list is a fuchsia Valentino bag.

Photo by Jay Heater

"I am a pink girl!" she said with a big smile. "But I like the design of it, and that it is cross-body. It is small, but it can fit my phone."

She said she will play extra Bingo cards in an attempt to win it.

Maria MacDonald, the advisory board chair for Sisterhood for Good, said she has about 50 handbags and she changes them often depending on her outfit.

"Look at me," she said, sporting a bright, multi-colored outfit. "I carry a lot of bright bags."

Like Towery, she would love to win the fuchsia Valentino bag. But she expects those expensive handbags to be well-made other than just pretty.

"One time I had a run-of-the-mill bag and the strap broke at the grocery store. Everyone I owned was going down the aisle."

Julie Benjamin, the Sisterhood for Good Membership chair, is hoping to win the white Prada bag.

"If I dress up nice, I want a nice bag," she said. "And this is my year (to win)!"

Samina Morrow, the co-chair of the grants committee, said she has about 30 bags, but she also gets rid of them "if it's not 'wow' enough."

Last year, she actually won a bag at Designer Bag Bingo — a Chloé bag" with plenty of wow — that she gave away anyway.

 "It was a beautiful bag, but it was a little big for me," she said. "Just not my style."

She said she changes up colors and funkiness of bags depending on her mood.

Photo by Jay Heater

Kathy Collums, the Sisterhood for Good's finance chair and an original member, said she is concentrating on the white Prada bag because it is a "great summer bag, very contemporary and distinctive ... not too loud."

She calls herself a "season bag holder" who learned the importance of matching accessories 13 years ago after reading the book "Nice Girls Finish Last."

She says her home is filled with purses and shoes.

"Our closets and halls look like they are made out of leather," she said.

She said she even has handbags that she never takes out, but uses as decorative pieces.

Angela Massaro-Fain, the Sisterhood for Good founder, started Designer Bag Bingo after a friend who lived in Pennsylvania told her "the ladies went crazy" at a Bingo designer bag fundraising event.

Massaro-Fain has 25 purses of her own and she tries to buy bags that can have multiple uses. She likes the Marc Jacobs purse in the live auction because she could bring it to an elegant event or a sporty event, just by changing to a thicker strap that comes with it. She loves the versatility.

She donated one of her purses that she had custom-made after a trip to South Africa. She gave the designer photos from her trip and he crafted the canvas and suede bag. However, as much as she appreciated he artistic quality, she didn't feel the bag fit her.

It will be on the silent auction shelf.