Almost as soon as the announcement of plans was made for the 2020 Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary Fashion Show, a great number of the guests picked up their cars from the Stanley Korshak valets and set their GPSs for Christopher Martin’s Gallery in the Design District. That’s where 2020 St. Valentine’s Day Fashion Show and Lunch Chair Nikki Webb was revealing plans for North Texas Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s annual fundraiser — Power of Love — that will focus on pediatric blood cancer research and funding the $50M/five-year initiative.
Nikki is an oldtimer when it comes to dealing with cancer. She has lost so many in her family to cancer, including her father. He died at 53 from pancreatic cancer and before that had battled testicular cancer. “My grandmother died of lung cancer and my great-grandmother died of colon cancer,” Nikki said. “We’ve had bone cancer and skin cancer.” Her sister, on the other hand, was a breast cancer survivor.
While guests like Janet Evans, Louise Griffeth, Lisa Singleton, Kim and Greg Hext, Crayton Webb and Jan Strimple checked out the artwork, mother of four Nikki said how she couldn’t imagine how parents faced the reality of their children being diagnosed and facing the battle of blood cancer.
It was just a month and a half ago that one of Nikki’s friends had a child diagnosed with blood cancer: “I just hate that parents have to do that. Parents have to sit across [the table] and hear that their child has cancer. I truly believe that if we can find a cure to blood cancer the rest will fall into line.”
Pretty soon the news of the night was revealed with the fundraising event returning to the Meyerson on Wednesday, February 5, with NorthPark Center providing the fashions. Peggy and Carl Sewell will serve as honorary co-chairs, and receiving the Heart of Gold Award will be Rusty And Bill Duvall, who “started this luncheon 36 years ago and it’s amazing what it’s become now.”
The Tom Landry Award will be presented to leukemia survivor/lacrosse player Luke Allred, while the Memorial Hero will be the late Zack Guillot, whose mom has joined in the fundraiser effort to find more treatments to fight.
As part of the effort, Melissa Cameron, Jennifer LeLash and Andrea Nayfa are heading up the underwriter committee.
I remember our boxer (dogs) club was invited to participate in a Jan Strimple produced fashion show for a Valentines Day event! The emcee was Clarice Tinsley, and our segment was titled “Boxer or Briefs?” Local sports celebrities and Channel 4 reporters were the models, and they either walked boxer dogs or carried briefcases down the runway wearing various fashions! What an honor to be a part of that, and for a cause close to me as well, as I lost my only brother in 1986 to lymphoma.