By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
One good way to help uninsured women in the local area is by attending the Pink Ribbon Trailblazer’s Spring Fashion Show on’April 23.
In an effort to continue purchasing mammograms and ultrasounds for women without insurance, the fundraiser fashion show will showcase a series of very fashionable women. Not only are the majority of the models featured in the Pink Ribbon Trailblazer’s (PRT) 2015 calendar, each woman is a cancer survivor with a story to share. All calendar portraits were taken free of charge by Henry Hopkins Photography.
Join the PRT at Boulder Pointe Golf Club at 1 Champions Circle in Oxford for the fashion show and calendar sales, raffle and silent auction beginning at?5 p.m.’Dinner will be at?6 p.m., and the models hit the runway starting at?7:30 p.m..
‘I’m hoping this is my most successful fundraiser,? Lake Orion resident Patricia Nolf, founder and chair of the PRT, said. ‘I’m putting my heart and soul in it.?
Nolf puts her heart and soul into everything. It just so happened that a local business owner took notice of this with a little idea of her own.
Sue Oles, owner of Boulevard Boutique, a consignment shop in downtown Oxford, approached Nolf with one request’to throw her a fundraiser. The ladies brainstormed and decided on a fashion show, which will not only showcase some of the new items at Oles? boutique, but also display unique clothing from Ella Fashion and evening dresses from Glorious Collection, two other shops in downtown Oxford.
Nolf is also very excited to introduce her 2015 Calendar Girls, women whom she’s met through various cancer support groups after Nolf herself was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2001. Free and clear of different cases of breast and lung cancer, Nolf has decided to give her time back to the community that has helped her raise more than $185,500 since its inception in 2007.
Nolf and her calendar girls? vision is simple: to spread awareness for the opportunity this unique organization provides.
Without the efforts of the PRT and its community support, however, Nolf prefers not to think of problems that could have been .
Since 2007 the PRT has provided over 1,700 free mammograms to uninsured women in Oakland County through a partnership she created with St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital in Pontiac. The free mammogram is not restricted to age, and is the first and only step for many local women to receive care if they find a lump.
Each mammogram costs $108, and Nolf raises all of her money through local fundraising events like the upcoming fashion show, and the annual ‘Stroll, Ride, Run ‘Fun’draiser? every September on the Polly Ann Trail.
Her most recent fundraiser was last fall at the Great Harvest Bread Company, which raised $930 for PRT, offering an inspirational talk by Gail Evo, Director of Integrative Medicine and Imagery Specialist for Beaumont Health System, and yoga class.
Funds have been streaming in more swiftly for the PRT after the nonprofit organization secured several key sponsors, Nolf said, including St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Odd Job Disposal, Coldwell Banker, Oxford Bank, the Dermatology Center of Lake Orion and Genisys Credit Union.
Guest reservations for the Spring Fashion Show can be purchased for $30 at’www.pinkribbontrailblazers.com, by visiting the Boulevard Boutique, or by sending a check made payable to the Pink Ribbon Trailblazers to Pat Nolf by calling?248-693-3182.