FLORENCE — When residents of a local retirement community decided to do something to help others living in the Pee Dee, the idea of fashion wasn’t foremost in their minds.
But the people living at The Carolinian in Florence chose to hold a fashion show, in conjunction with Hamrick’s Clothing Store, to bring in donations of non-perishable food items for Harvest Hope Food Bank’s Extra Mile Campaign.
“We wanted to do something to involve ourselves with the community,” Pam O’Neill, The Carolinian’s marketing director, said. “We read an article about a month ago in the Morning New about how much help the Harvest Hope Food Bank needed and we though (a fashion show) would be a great tie-in.”
MULTIMEDIA
Residents modeled clothes from Hamrick's in fashion show at The Carolinian in Florence on Wednesday, July 16, 2008. The event helped collect canned goods for the Harvest Hope Extra Mile campaign. See more pictures, click Here
Admission to the show was a donation of a non-perishable food item.
O’Neill said the food drive brought in a great deal of donations, but she said she hopes the next one will do even better.
“We have two barrels (of food) here,” O’Neill said. “We’ve had such great success and the residents have had such fun with it that I think we should put it on the calendar for once a year.”
Kathy Almers, administrator of the facility, said she enjoyed doing something that made so many of the residents smile.
“I thought it was great,” she said. “It turned out a lot better than I thought it would, being our first one.”
Hamrick’s visuals manager, Annette Jones, and Patricia Shaw, supervisor of the missy department, were present to give commentary on the ensembles.
“It’s just a joy doing it, because it just makes them (the residents) come alive,” Jones said.
Shaw said many of the residents are common faces in the store, so it was fitting for Hamrick’s to supply the wardrobes for the fashion show.
But for some of the residents, this wasn’t their first spin on the catwalk. Roberta Martin, one of the models for the fashion show, said she competed in a pageant before walking the runway at The Carolinian.
“I was in the Ms. Senior America pageant representing the Florence community several years ago,” she said.
Even the residents who watched from the audience said they had a great time while doing good for the community.
Lorraine Rusher, who moved to the facility in February, said she enjoyed watching her friends model the clothes.
“It was great,” she said. “I thought all the models did a great job.”
Carolinian residents Grace Lindgren, Lucille Johnston, Maggie Campbell, Hilda Ingram, Betty Holloran, Helen Shaw, Annie Cox and Audrey West also were models for the show.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement