RIP The Runway 2018 benefits Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia
Egbert Gaye
Our community has become overcrowded with events and activities that serve only to fill our weekends and satisfy our seemingly insatiable urge for entertainment.
That’s why from Day One, seven years ago, Janice Small-Wright and her team at RIP The Runway: Fashion For A Cause have positioned theirs to be different, and have built the Thanksgiving-weekend showcase of fashion, style and music into something more meaningful: using the popularity of the event to raise awareness on various causes and diseases that impact on people’s lives, especially those that disproportionately affect people in our community.
So far they have contributed close to $35,000 toward raising awareness on sickle cell/anemia, prostate cancer, mental health, leukemia & lymphoma and multiple sclerosis.
This year the theme is: “Fighting To Remember” For Those Living With Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia as they shine the spotlight on a set of diseases that have become increasingly widespread and a silent stalker in ours, a greying community.
Speaking to the CONTACT recently, Small-Wright is excited about the upcoming event itself, especially the fact that it’s being moved to the Sofia Reception Hall in LaSalle, a venue that’s bigger and much grander than others in the past.
“This year we intend to make it an even nicer experience for our guests,” she says. “And the show is going to be a lot more exciting because we will have almost twice the number of designers and models on show.”
And she added that because the new venue can accommodate a lot more people it allows them to have a bigger VIP section where those who choose to, can enjoy the goings-on in comfort and style.
The more than 25,000 Montrealers who have attended Rip The Runway over the past seven years can testify to the meticulous attention to detail invested by Small-Wright, and her partners Aileen McCalla and Dawn McNichols, to making it a signature event in Montreal.
It also provides a platform for aspiring designers, models, performers and all who are craving a place or career in the fashion industry.
This year, at a new venue and expanded show, Small-Wright and her team promise to take the next level.
Rip The Runway: Fashion For A Cause (“Fighting To Remember” For Those Living With Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia) on October 6, 2018, at Sofia Reception Hall, 410 Avenue Lafleur, LaSalle, QC H8R 3H6.
Doors open: 7:15 PM, Showtime: 8:00 PM. Info and tickets: (514) 951-3194, (514) 232-1947, (514) 690-0836.
