Hope in the City

Hope and the City

August 22, 2012

IVY Bar & Kitchen

Back in June, I received an invitation to the Halton Region's 3rd Annual Hope and the City event via email from Balance My Life, an online Oakville based magazine to which I subscribe. My goal in this, my 35^th year, is to better know the women in my community, so I immediately purchased two tickets to this event sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Society in support of women’s cancer research (breast, ovarian, cervical, uterine, vulvar cancers).

My fabulous friend and I arrived by limo, actually, we arrived by my little orange KIA, but we felt very glamorous because we were dressed to the nines as our invitation requested. While making our way from the adjacent parking lot to the Ivy Bar & Kitchen, which generously donated their facility for the evening, in Burlington, Ontario, my friend had a less than fabulous wipe out in her brand new heels. We made our way to the entrance as her knee dripped with blood, dropped our tickets into the grand prize draw, and made our way into the foyer amongst 550 beautiful women, fascinators and heels.

The Ivy Bar and Kitchen is a massive and modern venue tastefully decorated in at least  Fifty Shades of Gray (seriously!) with elegant sofa'd seating areas throughout and a patio boasting two full bars. Sweet Potato Fries and Sliders were being handed out as we made our way through this uber-femenine, 'girls only', event. A lovely waitress, among a few others, noticed my friends unfortunate looking knee and took us to the back of the kitchen where the manager doted over her as I eyeballed a very large brick of chocolate on one of the counter tops, assuming it was used for the chocolate dipping station we had passed on our way to the kitchen. The manager cleaned up her knee, put a bandage on it, and had the bartender make us a couple of drinks. One of the waitresses even snuck some fries into the back for us. The staff at Ivy are the most pleasant I’ve ever come across.

With bandaged knee, and drinks in hand, we wondered back into the party as the DJ picked up the tempo and the fashion show began. We were later instructed to find one of the firemen wearing pink shirts to buy some raffle tickets, which we happily obliged to do. We then browsed the jewellery and other eye candy that was for sale around the perimeter of the bar, watched an awesome belly-dancing show, and passed by the chocolate dipping station more than once as we observed other women getting their hair and makeup done, before checking out the hand and back massage area. You could say it was like every woman’s Favourite Things List all under one roof.

It was an atmosphere of sisterhood as a very brave young lady named Shannon Pethick, took to the stage and shared her cervical cancer survival story. She spoke of the importance of early detection and getting yourself checked annually. She was only a year younger than me and she had been through so much. I wanted to rush the stage and hug her.

Near the end of the night we did a little bit of digging for diamonds, this was a very unique way to raise money. For ten dollars, you were able to pick a ‘diamond’ from a nicely decorated container and win the corresponding prize based on the colour of the gem that you pulled out. What fun! We played a few times and I took home some lovely bracelets for my step-daughters. There was also a balloon popping game and a silent auction available with all of the $40,000 plus from the evening going to support the Canadian Cancer Society research for women's cancers - breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical.

With smiling faces and full bellies, we collected our swag bags on our way back out into the warm summer night and headed home.

For more information about Hope and the City visit their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HopeAndTheCity.

Hope to see you there next year!

Sylvia Wells

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