Our Founders
Morgan Bandy & Ashley Stuart
Galentine’s Gala, Co. was born from friendship, grief, and the belief that even the hardest chapters of our lives can be used to create something meaningful. Morgan and Ashley have been best friends and true soul sisters since 2019, walking alongside one another through some of life’s greatest joys and deepest heartaches. In 2023, while Morgan was pregnant with her second son, Bennett, her family learned that he had multiple abnormalities and faced an incredibly uncertain road ahead. Ashley was there every step of the way—through the appointments, the waiting, the hope, the fear, and ultimately the heartbreak of saying goodbye to Bennett shortly after his birth.
Grief was something Ashley understood in her own way, having lost her mother in 2015. Together, Morgan and Ashley made the decision to take the love and grief they carried and pour it into something bigger than themselves. The love Morgan would spend a lifetime giving Bennett, and the love Ashley continues to carry for her mother, became part of the heart behind their desire to serve others.
What began as an idea for one event has grown into a mission rooted in turning heartache into action. Morgan and Ashley pour their hearts into creating experiences that bring people together, raise meaningful funds, and support organizations caring for people during some of life's hardest seasons. Their grief is part of their story, but giving back is what they have chosen to do with it.
What began in 2024 with two best friends, an idea, and a desire to turn grief into something meaningful has grown into more than we ever could have imagined. In our first three years, together with our community, we have raised more than $123,000 for BRASS, Inc., welcomed more than 1,000 women through our events, and watched countless sponsors, donors, volunteers, businesses, and friends step forward to believe in what we are doing.
We may have started it, but our community is the reason it continues.
Grief changes you. For us, it changed the way we look at giving and the way we show up for others. We know what it feels like to walk through seasons when someone simply being there matters more than they may ever realize. We have learned that you don’t always need the right words—sometimes the greatest gift you can give another person is reminding them they don’t have to walk through the hard things alone.
That is why the organizations we support mean so much to us. Behind every dollar raised is a real person, a real family, and a real story. We will continue to advocate for those who may not be able to advocate for themselves, use our platform to bring attention to causes that deserve to be heard, and raise funds for organizations doing meaningful work in the lives of others.
As Galentine’s Gala, Co. continues to grow, so will our mission. The Galentine’s Gala will always be an important part of our story, but our vision reaches beyond one event. We are expanding our fundraising efforts to support additional nonprofit organizations throughout our community, creating new events and new opportunities for people to come together, give back, and make a difference.
When we look back at where this started, it’s hard to believe how much it has grown. What began with two best friends and an idea now belongs to so many. To every woman who has purchased a ticket, every business that has sponsored an event, every donor who has given, every volunteer who has stayed late, every board member who has believed in another big idea, and every organization that has trusted us with its mission—thank you.
There are more stories to share, more voices to advocate for, more organizations to support, and so much more good to be done. We can’t change the chapters of our stories that brought us here, but we can choose what we do with the love that remains.
And we’ve chosen to give it away.
With love,
Morgan & Ashley
We’re just getting started.