(Seguin) – If you grabbed your ticket early for tonight’s Guadalupe County Bras For A Cause fundraiser, then consider yourself one very lucky woman. That’s because the entertainment line-up of dancers is preparing to perform in front of a sold-out crowd at the Seguin Coliseum.
Co-Chair Jo Ann Maples, says the fundraiser has grown into a fun ladies night out – an event that not only sheds light on cancer awareness but that also raises money to help support cancer patients here in Seguin.
“Bras for A Cause is a collaboration between community volunteers and first responders. In fact, our first responders are our models. They get up on a 40-foot runway stage and dance and model artfully, highly decorated bras and those bras are auctioned off to the highest bidder. All that money goes and stays here in our own communities to help cancer patients that are in need, and they qualify for help at GRMC,” said Maples.
Event Co-Chair Shannon Billings says the group of gentlemen, some of them local first responders, can’t wait to take the stage for the charity performance. He says this year’s atmosphere is expected to be one of the best yet.
“This year, of course, we are doing Dancing through the Decades and so we’ll have a mixture of 50s. We are going to have some 60s – John Travolta. We are going to have a 1950s milk man. We are going to throw in some Sir Mix-a-Lot and Def Leppard and then we got some all through the 90s and I know Sons of Anarchy is not really 90s but it’s close enough. So, I think our lineup is really really good and I think we are going to have a good year. I think our costumes are going to be great and I’m just really more excited to see the audience and see what they decide to dress up this year,” said Billings.
The featured undergarments are designed, created and sponsored by local businesses and organizations, each themed around a primary color that represents a different type of cancer. The decorated bras over the years have been adorned with such things as rhinestones, sequins, flowers, ribbon, fringe, baubles and beads.
Although a few arms had to be twisted, Billings says most men didn’t hesitate to participate. He says today, the 11 men are ready to model these bras and liven up the crowd for some light-hearted fun.
“I would say more than half, as soon as you start talking to them and say this is a cancer fundraiser, they ask no more questions. They say ‘put me in.’ And then there’s some out there that you talk to them, and you explain to them, and you tell them ‘look, it’s for a good cause. We’ve got this going on, that going on and most of them they are like ‘nope, I’ll try it. I’ll do it. And they enjoy it,” said Billings.
Billings says knowing that tonight will be a sold-out crowd makes every effort worth it.
“I am ecstatic this year. I’ve watched New Braunfels every year sell out and I understand the Seguin cliental and Seguin’s money is probably not as high as New Braunfels but I think we give them a heck of a run for their money over there and just to even know that we are within a foot step of being sold out if not being sold out, that’s what we’ve been working for since the very first day that we started this year and to know that we have that big of a following that want to come and want to enjoy and want to raise money, I’m blown away,” said Billings.
Maples couldn’t agree more and says it’s just the icing on the cake for such a very worthwhile event.
“It really makes me proud of my community. It feels good because it has a very special place in my heart especially after last year to not be able to have one to help people in need but we really did help them because over the years with the Cancer Assistance Fund, in 2018, we were able to set up an endowment through the hospital foundation so like last year, when we weren’t able to have one, there were still funds there to help cancer patients that were in need,” said Maples.
Again, the Guadalupe County Bras For A Cause non-profit organization, was created specifically to aid cancer patients who are uninsured or underinsured in having access to cancer treatments at Guadalupe Regional Medical Center.
In addition to the live performance and auction, the evening also includes a pick-of-the-litter raffle, dinner and drinks
The event gets underway at 6:30 p.m. in the Coliseum.