PINK Finss volunteers have encouraged the community to get on-board and support the second annual Pink Tie Ball, which will raise much-needed funds for the charity, allowing it to continue helping women battling breast cancer and their families.
Tickets are now available for the event, which will take place at the Hawkesbury Race Club on Saturday, March 11, from 6:30pm until midnight. Approximately 450 people are expected to attend the formal function, which will include a three-course meal, beverages, and entertainment from live band, One Hit Wonders, as well as a line-up of live and silent auctions.
Getting residents along to the Pink Tie Ball is a cause close to the heart of Pink Finss volunteer and Rouse Hill resident, Alaina Olejarnik, who tragically lost her best friend only 12 weeks ago to the breast cancer fight.
Naomi-Leigh Bulmer, who lived in McGraths Hill, was only 34 years old when she passed away, and left behind a husband and three children under nine years of age.
“In May 2015 I remember my day becoming surreal when Naomi-Leigh called me to say she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive triple-negative breast cancer,” Ms Olejarnik told the Gazette.
Naomi-Leigh fought the disease for 18 months, through chemotherapy, lumpectomy surgery, and radiotherapy. However her cancer spread to her lungs.
“When Naomi-Leigh discovered the cancer had become chemo-resistant, she had to tell me ‘there is no next treatment, this is my last chance’. Within five months the disease had taken her from our lives,” said Ms Olejarnik.
Ms Olejarnik said she and Naomi-Leigh met and became friends at Hobartville Public School when they were eight years old. She said she feels she has been robbed of her best friend – someone as close as a sister.
Ms Olejarnik and the volunteers at Pink Finss - which is a Hawkesbury-based charity - hope to raise over $80,000 through the Pink Tie Ball, from ticket sales, auctions and raffles.
“An amount like this sustains Pink Finss’ support of over 30 women and their families. Just in the last few weeks five new women have come to us for assistance. So the more money we have, the more women we can help,” said Ms Olejarnik.
“Pink Finss mission is so important – in Naomi-Leigh’s words ‘Pink Finss take away the everyday worries so women can focus on the breast cancer fight’. Pink Finss keeps the house clean, family fed, medical bills down and brings women together for mutual support meetings.
“Naomi-Leigh’s relatives are not local, Pink Finss was able to step in and do what you might typically ask your extended family to pop over and do - get the kids ready for school, make the beds, do the laundry.
“As an example of Pinks Finss work, we lost Naomi-Leigh so tragically close to Christmas and Pink Finss made sure Santa still delivered presents to her three beautiful children on Christmas Day – to take the stress of Christmas shopping off her grieving husband.
“Without a major fundraiser like the Pink Tie Ball our work like ensuring Christmas was still a time of joy for children who lost their mother just simply wouldn’t be possible.”
Tickets for the Pink Tie Ball are $180 each and can be purchased through the Pink Finss website at www.pinkfinss.com.au, until Friday, February 24.