Picture 550 women, all wearing red, all gathered at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center for one unified mission: to educate themselves about heart disease and then commit to living a longer and healthier life. This was the scene Wednesday at the 2011 Vermont Go Red For Women luncheon.
The event was hosted by two amazing women in their own right, Burlington developer Melinda Moulton and Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell. The day’s activities included a morning introduction with the inspirational Vermont singer Shyla Nelson, a CPR class and other breakout sessions, a beautiful lunch with music by Jenni Johnson, silent auction and many information tables set up by area health organizations. Ultra talented photographer Cyndi Freeman moved through the crowd taking event pictures, while I was in charge of the photo activity near and dear to my heart: A Picture and a Promise.
A Picture And A Promise is generously underwritten by North Country Savings, and I volunteer my time to set up a mobile portrait studio and photograph the attendees showing their “Inner Diva”. After filling out a “promise card” naming a healthy goal for their lives, the women don red hats, feather boas, silk gloves, whatever floats their boat and then I take their portraits. In a couple of weeks, I mail each attendee their promise card and portrait, to remind them all of the importance of the day and the commitment to health we all made together. The resulting collection of images is fabulous, fun and empowering. The following slide show, set to Sister Sledge‘s “We are Family”, shows some of these incredible women in all their RED glory:
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** In a day or two, look on FACEBOOK, where I’ll post everyone’s portraits in an album on my profile page: Make yours your Profile Picture and Spread the RED message!
Finally, the winner of the drawing for the family portrait sitting is…. Brenda Howley of South Burlington! (AHA’s Joy Blanchard was the official “drawer” of the winner):
