Light the Night Corporate Luncheon

Light the Night hosted a Corporate Luncheon on June 8th at The Brown Deere Clubhouse. We came together to raise awareness for blood cancers and ask for support for our up-coming walk in October.

I met an amazing little lady at the luncheon. She is a one year survivor and her family is serving as our Honorary Patient Family for 2010. Thanks to The VanWay's for sharing your story!

Pictured below: Jessica Reiter-Flax (Light the Night Coordinator for Eastern Iowa), Feryl York (Honorary Chair for 2010 Light the Night) and Dylan Mooney (Light the Night Campaign Assistant)

Brent VanWay shares their family story as their brave daughter fights leukemia.

Pictured below: Jessica shares her family story and her passion for blood cancer research in honor of her mother Carol. Carol, like my mother, was diagnosed with CML. Carol courageously fought CML by participating in the clinical trial for Gleevec that is now keeping over 90 % of CML patients alive. What an amazing inspiration!

Are you ready to be a part of this AMAZING evening? Click the title above to learn how you can walk to save and improve the lives of those with blood cancers!

Mrs. IA/MN/WI America 2010

Mrs. IA/MN/WI 2010 was held in St. Paul, MN on June 5th, 2010. Ryan and I had an amazing evening cheering on all of the lovely contestants, but two special ladies had our hearts. Valarie Whitehead (Mrs. IA International 2009) was competing for the title of Mrs. IA America and stole the crown! What an honor to watch the wonderful woman who has been an inspiration to me as Mrs. IA International 2010 grace the stage with grace and elegance! Breanna Luderman was competing for the title of Mrs. MN America and won the judeges hearts just as she won mine one year ago! Breanna, I am so proud of you and feel blessed to call you my friend!

Pictured below: Ryan graciously posed for a picture with me at the "After-Party" ... Love ya Ry!!

Pictured below: Ron and Ryan celebrate their "titles" as Mr. Iowa America 2010 and Mr. Iowa International 2010. Val and I have great support don't we?!

Congratulations Valarie Whitehead, Mrs. Iowa America 2010! You look stunning!!

Congratulations to Breanna Luderman, Mrs. Minnesota America 2010! You couldn't be more beautiful inside and out!

Pictured below: My fellow pageant sister, Susie Overvold Mrs. MN International 2010. We are looking forward to Chicago ... it's right around the corner!

Pictured below: Ryan and Leslie Scheu are always there to "hold our goodies" ... thanks you two! What would Jessica and I do without you two?!

Pictured below: Ryan poses with Miss Teen MN International 2009, Jessica Scheu. We have really enjoyed getting to know you Jessica and wish you all the best!

Light the Night Meeting

On June 1st, Jessica (Light the Night Program Coordinator) and I met with Janice Baldes. Janice is the creator of Bagolitas ... so very cute handbags with lots of attitude!! Janice has graciously agreed to donate 15%-35% of the procedes for our Light the Night fundraising campaign! What an amazing woman! We are so proud to have her support for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

Pictured below: Janice presented me with a new Bagolita ... I LOVE sporting this fun bag around town! Thanks so much Janice!

To learn more about Bagolitas, click on today's blog title to link with their blog.

Miss Linn County Mock Interviews

On May 23rd, I had a GREAT time meeting Miss Linn County and Miss Teen Linn County. Gretchen Bruesehoff and Anna Massengarb are preparing for Miss Iowa and Miss Iowa Teen America. Today a panel of "judges" provided mock interview sessions for these fabulous ladies. Then, they dazzled us with their amazing talents ... what beautiful voices these young ladies have!!

Best of luck as they compete for Miss Iowa and Miss Iowa Teen America June 11th and 12th!

Pictured above: Gretchen singing her beautiful talent number for Miss Iowa.

Pictured above: Anna provides us with a taste of her talent number as well! Such talent at such a young age!

Feel free to click on the title above to learn more about Miss Linn County!

LLS Gala

We ended The Man, Woman and Celebrity of the Year Campaign with The Iowa LLS Gala. This phenomenal event was held at The Meadows in Altoona, IA on May 15th.

I'm honored and excited to announce I was awarded 1st Runner - up this year! Our winner for the celebrity category was Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson! We are so honored to have Shawn advocate for LLS!

I am so honored to have my family with me during the amazing event! Pictured above are the inspirations behind my advocacy and philanthropy work for LLS. L to R: Dad (Don Redeker), Mom (Rhonda Redeker) and Mr. Iowa (Ryan).

We await the announcement of winners on stage ... drum roll please!

The Meadows was FABULOUS! We had an evening of fun with our honorary families and honorary chair (ISU Head Football Coach Paul Rhodes). I do think I even gained some points with Ryan by getting him an autograph from Coach Rhodes!

We also had a wonderful dinner and silent / live auction with all the proceeds going to LLS!

Thanks to all of our friends and family for supporting LLS!

Pictured Above: Theresa and Matt Fettkether.

Pictured Below: The BEST Mom and Dad a girl could ever dream of!

A mother holds her hand for a little while, BUT holds her heart FOREVER!

Mom ... you are my inspiration and I love you more than words can ever express!

Pictured below with two sweet little ladies! Jason Wulff is also a 2010 Candidate for Man, Woman and Celebrity of the Year ... these are his wonderful girls!

Ryan, I love you with all my being! I love that you willingly wear your cancer ribbon tie! You have inspired me to be the woman I have always wanted to be. You stand beside me and support me more than I could ever have imagined you would ... you constantly make me so proud to be Mrs. York!

LLS at Iowa Cubs

It was LLS Day at The Iowa Cubs Game on May 8th, 2010! About 10 weeks ago, I accepted a nomination by LLS to participate in a philanthropic campaign. The Man, Woman and Celebrity of the Year Campaign has been such a blessing!! I have met GREAT people who share the same passion for blood cancer awareness as Ryan and I do. What an honor to be a part of throwing out the game pitch!

Pictured below with several of the candidates for Man, Woman and Celebrity of the Year from L to R: Jason Wulf, Rhonda Vrendenburg, Edye Beckerman, Shawn Johnson, Chasity Young, Corey Jansen, Ryan Kolder and Sharon Keeling our campaign manager.

What an opportunity to campaign for LLS with Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson!! Thanks for your support for LLS Shawn!

LLS hits the Iowa Cubs!

Ryan's "crowning" moment! Ryan was honored as 2009's Celebrity of the Year winner. We are so excited to have his support again this year as he campaigns for Man of the Year.

Pictured below with Rhonda (Woman of the Year candidate). It was such an honor to meet her! We instantly connected as her son (Steve) was diagnosed with CML. Like my mother, Steve is on the medication Gleevec to help control their leukemia.

Getting ready to throw out the first pitch!

Shawn takes her position ... what better person to throw out our first pitch than an Olympic Gold Gymnast?!

Pictured below: The Man, Woman and Celebrity of the Year candidates cheer on the Iowa Cubs onto the field!

THANKS Iowa Cubs ... for supporting LLS!!!

2010 Arthritis Walk

I had such a great time at The 2010 Arthritis Walk in Cedar Rapids, IA. I was honored to lead the group's warm-up before their walk. I LOVED being on the Kernels Field at Perfect Game Ball Park on May 8th!

Pictured below with Cathy and Alycia at The Physiotherapy Associates booth for pre-event and post-event stretching.

After a much needed warm-up (it was a very chilly and rainy Saturday morning), the walkers began their walk around the Kernels Field.

Pictured below with Gabe ... he braved the cold to walk to support a cure for arthritis.

I had the honor of meeting today's honorary walk chair (pictured below) ... she is such an inspiration! She suffers with osteoarthritis, but still finds a way to exercise regularly ... GREAT example for all of us!