Fairy Tales Do Come True - Pink Door Gala Raises $255,000 at their 7th Annual Gala

Roxanna from Sugar Land seemed to be living everyone’s fairy tale. She married her high school sweetheart not too long after graduation and settled down. Everything seemed to be going well, she decided to skip college and start raising a family right away and was blessed with two boys. But like all good things have a habit of doing, this too came to an end. By the time she was in her mid 30s she was divorced and struggling to provide for her family. Things took a turn for the worse when she turned 37 and was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had her family to help her through treatments and into recovery, but what was she to do once she was in remission? It was now harder than ever to make ends meet, and the hospital bills did nothing to alleviate her problems. Roxanna knew she needed to get a degree, but with the rising costs of tuition and books that seemed unlikely. But then a door opened for Roxanna, a pink one in fact.

The Pink Door Nonprofit Organization helps provide women all over the country with financial help to get them through their treatments as well as the hurdles that come afterwards. On November 8 their 7th annual gala was held to help raise money to grant more pink wishes for more women.

Kate Tankersley, Executive Director, Cortney Cole Hall, President and Founder, Lee Mitchell, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President

The idea for this organization started when the founder, Cortney Hall lost her mother due to cancer. At the gala, she shared her story with all who attended, and spoke of how “when one door closes, another opens,” and how this concept was part of her inspiration to start this organization. When her mother passed away, she looked back on the difficulties of getting through cancer and wished there had been a way for her family to get help and resources. She decided to be that person for other families and started The Pink Door with her good friend Lee Mitchell. They wanted a way to help women, so no one would ever have to worry about “affording recovery”.

Over the last seven years, The Pink Door has helped 55 women in 17 states in all areas of life, from providing house payments, to getting them modes of transport, to helping them get degrees after treatment. The annual gala helps to raise money and ensure the organization will continue to grow. ABC13’s Sharron Melton hosted the event and kept the crowd entertained and the program going. By the end of the night over $255,000 was raised and this money will go towards granting the wishes of at least 45 women in 2015.

At the gala, cancer survivor Lyn Hutchinson was honored for charisma and passion in supporting this organization. Lyn was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of breast cancer in 2009, but has been blessed to be in remission for the last five years. She gave a heartfelt speech and shared her story of how Pink Door helped get her through her treatment.

Dr. Sherry Hill was also honored for her dedication and commitment to cancer patients. She spoke of how while studying to become a doctor, she found cancer patients were some of the nicest and strongest patients she had seen. She decided to help get them across the survival finish line and is working at M.D. Anderson.

The event itself was as high class as they come, it took place in the Omni Hotel and all guests enjoyed a delicious three course meal. The live auction had several exciting items, such as tickets to the 2015 MTV Awards in LA with hotel stay and a custom clutch from Connie Kwan-Wong. Other items included dinner with Houston firefighters, a J.J. Watt autographed football and an all inclusive stay in either Cancun, Cozumel, Riviera Maya or Isla Mujeres. The silent auction had items donated from Kendra Scott, the Houston Rockets, Brighton, Sterling McCall Lexus, Massage Heights, and many others.

A live pianist, Scott Graham and a live band, Password, provided musical entertainment for the evening.

This is just the beginning for The Pink Door, in the years to come this organization is sure to become a national charity and help improve the lives of many more cancer patients.

Special input by Natasha Naik. She is currently a student at University of Houston studying public relations with a passion for charity. She has recently completed a missions trip in Haiti, working with the missionaries of charity. She also loves to travel along with her other hobbies like cooking, music, and trying hands on fashion.