Dancing With the Stars Austin 2009: A Winning Evening!

This year's Dancing With the Stars Austin 2009 event took place on Sunday night (Dec. 6) and it was, again, a huge success! I've heard unofficial estimates that the event raised upwards of $600K for the Center for Child Protection.

Other winners of the evening included Dave Steakley and Jolie Generalov, who won the Mirror Ball Trophy. 1st runners up Sheriff Greg Hamilton and Lindsay LeBlanc. 2nd runners up: Holly Mills-Gardner and Shaun Bruno.

These were the recognized winners of the evening but in my mind everyone was a winner. I can't tell you how proud I was of all of the contestants, STEPPING OUT of their comfort zone and STEPPING UP for a great cause. I saw the months of preparation that each contestant put into their performance and it totally paid off!! Thank you all for your hard work and big hearts!

(Here I am at the event in my dance with Richard Garriott)

If you were not able to attend the event this year, I'm told that the performances will be available exclusively on Time Warner Cable beginning on December 15th through the end of January. Look for it on Central Texas On Demand (cable channel 1400) and for each view, Time Warner will donate $1 (up to $5000) to the Center for Child Protection!