Fashionable fundraising

Abington High School seniors Samantha Rubin (right in photo) and Melanie Highbloom are performing valuable community service in high style. They’ve organized a powerful fashion statement for breast cancer research, and the public is invited to join their exciting fundraising effort.

You can support the Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund at Fox Chase Cancer Center on Thursday evening, March 18, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. by attending (or just purchasing tickets for) the Pretty in Pink Fashion Show at Old York Road Temple – Beth Am (971 Old York Road, Abington, 19001).

Chic apparel comes from Linda’s Loft, an established Jenkintown boutique in Noble Square just south of the Fairway (817 Old York Road, 19046). Barbizon will supply the models, hair and makeup by Studio Artur. Raffle prizes are donated by area merchants. You’ll hear music from A# Sharp Production and feel torn between ironically tempting dessert tables and fashion aspirations.

A quick conversation with the well-spoken Samantha dispels notions that the student may be free-riding because her mom just happens to be Linda’s Loft’s owner, Linda Rubin. Samantha describes the work of organizing such a large event as “Hard, stressful, but a lot of fun.” The challenges she and her classmate Melanie have faced, notes the eighteen-year-old, include the difficulty in coordinating all the players “on the same page” and in securing donations for the event to maximize the money that goes to cancer research. It’s hard for the teen to disguise her disappointment with (don’t worry: un-named) prospective vendors who haven’t been able to rise to the occasion.

Samantha devised this particular senior project because it seemed more dramatic or extravagant than more typical high school fundraisers. She’d been inspired by charitable shows her mother had run, and wanted to plan one herself.

Samantha Rubin is a strong student, favoring math. She contemplates a future career in counseling or teaching. “I love kids. I work summers in a day camp,” she says. Another of her passions is dance, particularly hip-hop and jazz. She earns considerably more than certain bloggers I know dancing professionally for a DJ on the local party circuit.

Tickets to the fundraising fashion gala are $15 for adults and $10 for students when purchased in advance. Add $5 to each category when purchasing at the door. For more information about the Eileen Stein Jacoby Fund, contact: 215-947-6183; www.esjffund.org or Fox Chase Cancer Center: 215-728-2745; http://www.fccc.edu/helpingFoxChase/makeAGift/SpecialFunds/jacoby.html