Cancer Society plans 35th annual Fashion Fare
Jessica Hinkler of Washington and her children, Charlotte, 6, and Grady, 9, will model in the American Cancer Society’s 35th annual Holiday Fashion Fare at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe. The trio are volunteering in honor of Jessica’s mother, Elana Segen, who died of breast cancer in 2014.
Charlotte Hinkler, 6, holds a photo of Elana Segen surrounded by her grandchildren. Segen died of breast cancer at the age of 56 after battling cancer for 15 years.
Cancer survivor Bernie Rupcich, an Ellsworth native, will be among the models in the Holiday Fashion Fare.
Bernie Rupcich is a cancer survivor.
But the disease has claimed the lives of her father and two sisters, and a third sister is battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
“It’s crazy,” said Rupcich, “how cancer has touched our family and the toll it has taken.”
Those encounters with cancer led Rupcich, an Ellsworth native who owns a mobile boutique called Magnolia on Main and recently celebrated her 20th anniversary as a breast cancer survivor, to become a member of the American Cancer Society.
Saturday, she will take center stage as a model in the American Cancer Society’s 35th annual Holiday Fashion Fare at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe. WTAE-TV news anchor Andrew Stockey will serve as master of ceremonies.
Joining Rupcich and more than a dozen other models will be Jessica Hinkler of Washington and her two children, Grady, 9, and Charlotte, 6.
Hinkler’s mother, Elana Segen, succumbed to breast cancer in 2014 at the age of 56, following a 15-year fight with the disease.
“I volunteered because of my mom. She was an avid volunteer,” said Hinkler, who recalled her mother driving cancer patients to and from chemotherapy, participating in Daffodils Day and helping with the annual fashion show.
Hinkler, who was in college when her mom was diagnosed, was struck by the compassion and care her mother showed for others who were battling cancer, and how much time Elana spent making sure she looked her best.
It led Hinkler and her brother, David Segen, to create Elana’s Blessings, a nonprofit foundation that provides blessing bags filled with care items for women in Southwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio who are going through chemotherapy. The foundation also provides special days of pampering, including manicures and pedicures at salons, and new wigs.
“She always made sure that she made time to look her best, even if she wasn’t feeling well,” Hinkler said. “Wherever she was going – to a party, to work, to a treatment, or to a doctor’s appointment – she always took extra time to get ready. It finally dawned on us after she died that looking her best and not seeing the external effects of cancer was her way of feeling better.”
This year, the models participating in the Fashion Fare are all cancer survivors or are modeling in honor of a loved one who has battled cancer.
Rupcich said she jumped at the opportunity to walk the runway in memory of her family members.
“I think of my father and my sweet sisters, and of my sister Millie, who is fighting cancer now, and I’m pleased and honored to be a part of this fundraiser, which is the biggest fundraiser for the American Cancer Society of Washington County,” Rupcich said.
The models will wear fashions provided by Macy’s at Washington Crown Center. The luncheon includes a crafter fair and live and silent auctions.
Money raised will help the American Cancer Society’s efforts to find a cure for cancer.
For information, call the Washington office of the ACS at 724-222-6911.