Celebrate the Beauty of Giving
This Long Island-based nonprofit provides free beauty and wellness treatments to cancer patients. Find out how you can support—and celebrate—the important cause.
Courtesy of Mondays at Racine
On Monday, February 5th, Mondays at Racine will hold the 7th annual Long Island Beauty Ball, this year at the Heritage Club at Bethpage at 6 pm. The nonprofit organization provides wellness and beauty services to women, men, and young adults undergoing treatment for any cancer.
When I first heard of Mondays at Racine a couple of years back, I immediately felt a pull — an alignment. This organization provides beauty and wellness services to cancer patients free of charge. The sisters behind the foundation — Cynthia Sansone, Rachel DeMolfetto, and Karla Waldron — lost their mother to breast cancer and created the organization on the belief that cancer patients deserve dignity, strength, and restorative treatments as they fight their disease. It started at Racine Salon in Islip, and now Mondays at Racine has charter salons all across Long Island that offer free services to cancer patients every Monday.
If you follow my work, you know I talk a lot about the psychological, feel-good effect that beauty services and products provide. I’ve seen this firsthand as a beauty editor for over 20 years. I often talk about that inner light that turns on in a woman who just had her hair and makeup done for a photoshoot. As the daughter of a hairdresser, I witnessed this at a young age, too (which undoubtedly influenced my career path). Growing up, my mother cut hair in our home, and I’d watch women come alive as they looked at their freshly cut and styled hair.
I also watched my mother put on lipstick, curl her hair, and deal with every single lemon life handed her, from being widowed at 38 to navigating a five-plus-year journey with metastatic breast cancer. She handled her disease with grace and dignity. She put on her makeup and styled her wig every day until the end—because that made her feel like herself despite the many changes to her body. Looking good made her feel good. Last month, my mother completed her journey with cancer. (I’m not a fan of the “lost her battle” language; she found healing, just not in the way we’d hoped.) She never made it to a Mondays, but she wished to. And as a hairdresser, she loved the intention behind the organization. She was going to be my guest at the event.
Heartbreaking, yes, but for me, it’s even more of a reason to show up and support Mondays at Racine. So I will be there on the 5th, on their red carpet, interviewing VIP guests and Community Hero honorees while streaming live on the LI Beauty Scene Instagram page. The Winter Wonderland experience will include a shopping village, psychic lounge, aura readings, lash lounge, champagne wall, mini makeovers, raffles, and so much more.
How can you help? Come! Support this organization by purchasing a ticket here. Your ticket will not only buy you a great night out, but you’ll also be helping Mondays at Racine keep their services 100% free for cancer patients. You can volunteer your expertise and time at events as a beauty professional. If you’re a salon owner, you can become a charter salon. If you’re just someone who cares, there are many ways to get involved. And, of course, you can always donate.
Please join me at this wonderful event on February 5th. If you’ll be there, please stop by to say hello! I always love to meet Long Island beauties in real life.
See you then, friends!
