As I mentioned in yesterdays post, Colleen created a special evening called “Forget for a Moment”. On this evening 15 women going through various stages of cancer are treated to an evening of pampering at Rinaldo’s Hair Designers and Spa on George Street in the Market. They all receive an evening to relax and enjoy, be pampered just a little bit and gather together with nothing more to worry about but to get themselves downtown.
When Colleen was trying to organize something she met Fiorella, of Rinaldo’s, who offered up her beautiful space and her staff and what an amazing group they are. Each of them spent time with a few of the ladies, sharing stories, laughing and overall just treating them with kindness. It was so wonderful to walk around and watch each of them at work on what would be an evening off for them. Special thanks goes out to this amazing team of individuals.
Together with Donna from Holtz Spa and Michael of Thyme and Again Catering, the evening was a wonderful success. Hand massages, Reiki treatments, Makeup application and delicious treats were available for everyone.
It was so wonderful to see laughter, lots of laughter and sharing among this group, some of which had never met before.
Colleen was wonderful when CTV stopped in and asked to interview her. This evening is not a fundraiser it is about remembering that there are people behind the disease that need a little extra care now and then. Colleen describes it perfectly in her blog post about the evening.
” This event is not raising millions of dollars for breast cancer research. Thankfully there are many people, organizations and events that do that. Finding better diagnostic technologies, better treatments, medical advances, and ultimately a cure are paramount. Not just curing the disease but curing the cause of the disease.
In the meantime, there are people living with this disease, going through treatment and the many side effects that inevitably come along with treatment. It is important to remember there is always a person underneath the disease who needs to be treated too. This is what our event is about. If the person underneath feels good, they will do so much better.”
After a little bit of pampering I offered to create a portrait of each of the women attending. Some had not had their portraits done in a long time, which of course to me means take more portraits! We had some fun and laughter, using a few areas of the beautiful Rinaldo’s. I do get carried away sometimes and I could have spent hours with each of them. I thank each and every one of them for allowing me that few minutes in their evening to capture their shining smiles. And thank you to Colleen for inviting me to join such an inspiring evening.