Rhonda Sullivan and her daughter returned for the third year and said, "My daughter and I are making this an annual event.  We had a great time at Country Goes Pink!  Keith Anderson was fantastic!  The food was over-the-top delicious; the sponsors went above and beyond making the night a huge success! I especially support Country Goes Pink because of its "global" focus on all forms of cancers that impact women.  God bless you and the people you help."

Lynn Lewis, CEO of Lynn Lewis Cosmetics came for the first time and was also a volunteer.  "Your event was incredible.  In talking with a number of people there, it is amazing how much your events have helped to touch the lives of people living with cancer.  I really enjoyed it!"

Returning sponsor, Marc Guest of East Coast Building Services, was a Bronze Buckle sponsor in 2006, but after hearing more about what CGP Foundation was doing he increased his sponsorship to a Gold Nugget.  He also attended the event along with his wife and other members of his organization.  "Thank you for a wonderful evening.  What a great show.  We all thoroughly enjoyed everything.  Count us in for next year."

"It was an incredible event!  The event was so well organized. The small presentation and speech prior to the performance was very tactful; it was brief, yet touching.  It was a great awareness event."  Joanna Shopf, representative from Davis construction a returning Bronze Buckle sponsor.

We would be remiss if we did not offer some words on what the ladies thought of Keith Anderson.  Let’s quote our Board Member, Stephanie Gallagher who, when she realized Keith Anderson had arrived and had just walked by her, said  "OMG!  I cannot believe how good-looking he is.  He didn’t place in the Mr. Oklahoma body-building contest for nothin’!"

EVENT  RECAP

2006 was great, but 2007 was even better!  Country Goes Pink is creating a stir and developing a following.

We started thinking about the 2007 Country Goes Pink event the day after last year’s event.  OK, maybe it was two days after – we all needed a day to recover from the fun! (Oh, and by the way, we are doing the same thing as we write this story.)

We want to first thank our terrific media sponsors Comcast, who each helps us get the word out about the cause and the mission of CGP Foundation.  WMZQ ramped up their commitment to the cause by not only being a media sponsor but also in partnering with CGP Foundation as a presenting sponsor.  Their promotion of the event, and even more importantly, their effort to hook us up with a top notch country star, was the key to this year’s success. 

The next step was to identify the program that we wanted to help fund.  After doing research and meeting with the fine group at the Holy Cross Foundation we identified Holy Cross Cancer Institute to be the recipient of the funds that we raised.  With every day being a battle for a cancer patient, it just seemed right to assist Holy Cross with the expansion of their art and music therapy program.  

With location and talent all lined up and the beneficiary identified, it was time to rock and roll…well, how about time to two-step!

Our volunteers began to design and acquire fun items for our goody bags, which were stuffed in the warehouse space donated by Food and Friends.  We extend special thanks to Food and Friends who offered their services in taking delivery of all of our goody bag merchandise and providing their warehouse and several members of their staff to do the bag stuffing.  THANK YOU FOOD AND FRIENDS!

Brian Egan and Jeni Chase, morning host of WMZQ served as Masters of Ceremonies and opened the program with the presentation of the Rascal Flatts music video “Skin” a touching story about a high school girl’s cancer experience and how the love of her family, medical team and her community helped to sustain her as she goes through the treatment process.

Another touching moment was the presentation of the Volunteer Award to Danielle Eichner.  Danielle, freshly graduated from college with a degree in graphic design is a close friend of Brian Bartkow, nephew to our CGP Founder, Marcey Zaborski.   Danielle, herself, is a child cancer survivor and when Marcey contacted her to see if she would help with the design of our printed materials, she jumped at the opportunity. Danielle donates a lot of her free time to the Childrens' Inn at NIH and volunteers a week of her time each summer to a cancer camp for children.   Too bad her first job out of college was a freebie.  Danielle, WE LOVE YOU! THANK YOU!

Our headliner, Keith Anderson, admitted to being a bit unaccustomed to playing acoustical concerts, but said he and his band were going to have fun with it and, boy, did they have fun… and so did everyone around them.  It was a real highlight to have such a talented (and did we say, good-looking?) artist play in such an intimate setting.  He sang some songs everyone knew and sang along with (like “XXL”), and others on his upcoming album to be released next spring.  Keith had fans in the crowd with his name on their t-shirts and one whose daughter shared the cover of a magazine with him a couple of years ago.

Like last year, the food was fantastic.  For the price of the ticket you not only got a concert but a full dinner!  Who could ask for anything more!  The staff at Union Jack’s outdid themselves.  We hope you’ll visit them in between CGP events; it’s a great local spot for dining or drinks. 

The night ended with the drawing of the raffle prizes.   Believe it or not, our own founder and president of CGP Foundation, Marcey, won the weekend stay at the Embassy Suites Hotel.  Go Marcey!  As Brian Egan said, she not only does the work but she also buy raffles tickets…now that is a commitment! 

We give special thanks to all of our sponsors for their commitment.  Without you we could not make this happen!  THANK YOU!