Children's Hospital & Luly Yang Couture

One of the many things that I enjoy about my role as a business owner is the opportunity to be involved in fundraising for local charities. I will be a sponsor at an event next week that raises money for Children’s Hospital here in Seattle. I am thrilled to report that I’ve only actually been to Children’s twice, so far. One trip was due to a hockey injury and the other for a CT scan that was scary, but turned out to be no big deal. We are so fortunate to have three healthy children, and to have insurance and the money to pay for care if anything were to happen to them.

On our last trip to the Children’s Hospital I cried. It was not because of my son’s injury, but because of another boy the same age who was there. He was on a first name basis with the staff in the ER because of his frequent visits. He was bleeding from his nose and had very little hair. He and his mother were staying at the Ronald McDonald House. All hospitals are sobering, but to be a mother walking down halls filled with sick and dying children is more gut wrenching than I can express.

So, when I recently was given the opportunity to be a sponsor for an event here in Seattle which is raising money for Children’s Hospital, I jumped at the chance. It is the annual couture fashion show where local designer Luly Yang introduces her newest line of evening gowns and wedding dresses. Last year the event raised over $100,000 for Camp Korey, a Carnation facility to help children who have serious illnesses.

I will be a sponsor at this year’s event, which will be held at the Seattle Aquarium and will be appropriately themed “Ocean”. I am contributing custom Ocean soaps for the attendees as a thank you for their generous donations to Children’s. Putting together the packaging has been a very enjoyable creative process for me. I always like doing custom projects, but this one has been unusually fun. I got to visit the studio (incredible!) and sit down with Luly and Travis McBurney from True Colors Events to discuss the color scheme, textures and look for the show…and for Luly to choose a scent for the soap. Fun!

I’m almost done with the finished product. I’ll probably give you all a sneak peek, but not until the day of the show. As a sponsor, I also get to attend the event. I’ve never been to a fashion show before. Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to wear! Aaack! No pressure there…

image credit: Luly Yang Couture