‘Fashion For Good’ embodies two things that Hannah Nicholson Gabrels loved, fashion and doing good for others. The Habersham County native died last year from a deadly bacterial infection called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). A fundraiser is being held this weekend in her memory to raise money for Hannah’s Hope, an organization dedicated to the fight against MRSA and Camp Jackie, a camp for special needs children located in Cleveland where Hannah volunteered.
Fashion for Good takes place this Saturday, March 14, at 6:30 pm at the Union Grove Gymnasium located at 1497 Holiness Campground Road in Cleveland.
Hannah and her sister Kara were both Certified Nursing Assistants who combined their professional training and love for children to care for the kids at Camp Jackie. Amanda Bridges is the camp director. She’s worked closely with Gabrels’ mother Kathy Nicholson to bring ‘Fashion for Good’ to life.
Some of the fashion models featured in Saturday’s show will be Camp Jackie campers. Katlin Fleming is serving as director of the fashion show. Katlin has a degree in fashion and has helped to choose the fashions that will be modeled by a diverse group of people, ranging from a baby fashion parade to fashionable grandmothers, and a few guys, too. Organizers say the models were chosen to highlight the beauty in everyone.
The silent auction will feature items donated by Habersham County “celebrities” like Tavarres King, wide receiver in the NFL. King is a graduate of Habersham Central High School and was a standout player on the University of Georgia football team. King attended Habersham Central with Hannah. He donated a signed football and may make an appearance at the event. Some of the fashions featured by the models will be up for auction, as well.
Nicholson founded Hannah’s Hope after her daughter’s death. She says the purpose of the organization is to raise awareness of the dangers of MRSA and to lend support to families who have lost loved ones to the infection. “Some statistics show that Super Bugs like MRSA will take over as the leading cause of death in humans in the next 5 years, killing more than cancer or HIV,” Nicholson warns. She says her daughter’s life might have been spared if she hadn’t been misdiagnosed during a trip to the emergency room a few months before she was hospitalized with complications from the infection. Hannah’s MRSA infection eventually spread to her lungs causing her to need a lung transplant. A donor never came through. She died on October 19, 2014.
Kathy Nicholson poured her grief into Hannah’s Hope and worked on a House Bill with local State Representitive Terry Rogers to increase the number of organ donors in Georgia. The Bill recently unanimously passed the State House of Representatives and is on it’s way to the State Senate. If approved, the measure will increases the state’s organ donor base by several hundred thousand by extending the donor option to people applying for state ID cards. Currently only those applying for driver’s licenses are given that option.
Nicholson says she’s thrilled to be working with all the great people who are bringing Fashion for Good together. “People always thought Hannah got her fashion from me, but I really got my fashion from her!” she says.
Tickets for the Fashion Show and Silent Auction can be purchased at the door the night of the event or in advance at www.facebook.com/hannahnicholsongabrels/events or www.fashionforgood.org
