The Pink Tie Affair Gala
The Pink Tie Affair Gala began with just a way to celebrate local Breast Cancer Survivors. What we do is to contact Breast Cancer Survivors and a lot of them are nominated by friends and family who would like for their sister, mother, grandmother to be apart of this celebration. In this week's edition Yolanda Traylor and Carolyn Pinder shared the meaning of the event, when it began, it's purpose and more.
GRT: How many years has this event been around?
Yolanda Traylor: We put this event on the scale of a large wedding because we have a remembrance for those whom we have lost and then we celebrate those who have survived and it turns into just a big party all night long. This is our sixth year doing the celebration. This year it was held at Embassy Suites in downtown Grand Rapids. Pink Heels for life is made up of six women. It is a sisterhood and we started this group because in 2009 I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer myself. So we did two sixteen mile walks, in 20012 we did the first walk in Chicago and then we did another walk in Atlanta, Georgia and we raised over $30,000 and that was for the Susan G. Coleman organization but we decided that we wanted to do something locally. We wanted to raise money, get sponsors and just get the community involved, including friends and family of survivors. Everyone you know is connected to or knows someone who has or has had Breast Cancer. So we decided that if we were going to raise money that we were going to try to put it back into our own community. Susan G. Coleman is well known and is a great organization but sometimes our areas of the city get left out. We might need a bill paid or just someone to talk to. So what we try to do is to accommodate people who are in our own area.
GRT: What would you like to share about the Pink Tie Affair Gala?
Carolyn Pinder: I thought that it was important for this group to come together and to continue to develop because my sister did not receive the resources and the support that was adequate for her. The information that she got going into her first chemo session just was not enough information for someone and it really was a scary time. So when someone is going through chemo, you really need someone to hold their hand and walk them through that process because a lot of bad things happen to your body and it is a shock. So it was important for us to support her and it was important for us to celebrate every day and every year that she is still here with us and because we love her so much that she wanted other women to have that same type of love and that is exactly what we do. We love you right in the middle of your circumstances, whether you are currently going through the treatment or if you are a survivor. We don't just stop there with this big event but we still need to stay connected. We are still going to be there for those women who need us. We are going to be talking to them and putting together other smaller events for us to come together. It is not just about having this one big event, it really is a sister hood and a network. You may need to cry at 5 in the morning, well there are not a whole lot of people who you can call, so that is what we want women to know. We are a chain link and they are apart of it. One thing about our sister hood is that all of the women who started with us in 2014 at McFaddens, we had no idea that it would escalate to the level that it has escalated to but those women from our first event are all still friends. They are connected together because their stories are so different but we are all in the same boat as far as what we are feeling and what we need from other women as far as support.
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