Opening hearts, wallets.(LIFE)(PARTY LINES)

Byline: Gail Scott, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The evening of May 24 boasted a number of perfect spring moments, especially if you were one of 200 guests gathering for cocktails on German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth's dramatic terrace overlooking the city. Conversation was just as pleasant, especially when word spread that the Aschiana Foundation's third annual Kite Soiree had topped the $130,000 mark - and that was before Anita McBride, first lady Laura Bush's chief of staff, announced that the organization's long-awaited $100,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development had been approved earlier in the day.

Aschiana (which means "the …