Catwalk for a Cure raises record $750,000 for cancer charity.
Catwalk for a Cure, an annual fashion event benefiting the Amschwand Sarcoma Foundation, raised a record $750,000 for the organization recently. More than 450 guests filled the Astorian event space for the cocktailattire affair, which was chaired by Allie and Jay Fields and Lisa and Josh Oren.
“It was our biggest night ever,” said Melissa Bellinger, who began the foundation after her husband, Tom Amschwand, died of cancer in 2001. “Our first year (in 2003), we raised $150,000 and sold out before the invitations were even printed. This year, the same thing happened.”
Guests were greeted with champagne and blinking rubber cocktail rings that were a part of a diamond-jewelry raffle by Tenenbaum Classic Jewelers. Nearby, designer Monique Lhuillier — who was there for a fashion show of her spring/summer collection and her shoe line — mingled with guests and posed for photos at the step-and-repeat.
Event honorees were Dr. Keila Torres of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the late Freddie Steinmark, a University of Texas football player who died of cancer in the 1960s; and Kristin Elliott, a three-time synovial sarcoma cancer survivor.
Guests included: Kevin Black, Tony Bradfield, Christina Stith, Linda and Jerry Fields, Lindley and Jason Arnoldy, Jana and Scotty Arnoldy, Francine and Westy Ballard, Marsha and David Solomon, Melissa and Ray Strong, Brady Knight, Dr. Andy Futreal, Dr. Alex Lazar, Debbie Chenevert, Allison and Adam Flikerski, Stinelli Castaneda and Saks vice president and general manager Bobby Dees and his wife, Weezy Dees.