Hi,

These last 6 months have flown by!  Pink Wings had an exhibit booth at the FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered) conference in February in Florida, as well as the Young Survivor Conference in Denver. It was so great to meet so many new people at the first FORCE conference. This was a fantastic weekend to get informed about BRCA 1 and BRCA 2.  I am BRCA 2, and so is my younger sister. I was able to meet and talk to Dr. Susan Love at the dinner event.  I will definitely want to attend this conference again next year. Sue Friedman did a fantastic job putting on this event. To read more about FORCE- please visit their website (go to my LINKS page).

At the Young Survivor Conference, I was able to see so many other young survivors that I have met over the years. This was the first year that the conference was held in Denver. The last 2 conferences that I attended were in Philly.  It was just announced that next year’s conference will be held in Virginia. I was very sick at this conference and could barely talk, but thanks to my good friend Colleen and her sister Bethany- we were able to keep the Pink Wings booth manned. We had many new pins to show at this conference, as well as our new “What Is In Your Heart?”  necklaces (we sold out!).  I think my new friend, Elaine, bought one of everything in our booth!

In March, Pink Wings held a successful fundraising boutique for the Ezralow Foundation as they raised funds for the L.A. Revlon Run/ Walk for Women.  Pink Wings also helped to design a custom pin for the Ezralow team (as seen on the Custom Pins page of the Pink Wings store) and completed an order of almost 100 baseball caps with teal paisley ribbons.  The teal ribbon represents Ovarian Cancer.

In April, we had another busy month. Courtney flew to North Charleston, South Carolina to meet her sister, Melanie (from Gardenpaper.com) to set up a booth at the E.W. conference (Essentially Women).  This is a fantastic event for Pink Wings and Garden Paper. It is how we get our product out to the retail market.

In April, Courtney also got some sad news…the baby boy she was to adopt was born and the birth mom had changed her mind and decided to keep him.  Thank goodness for strong family and friends who reached out during this tough time with words and notes of hope.

Later in April, Courtney and her family participated in their 3rd Annual Pacific Palisades Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society.  This is a fantastic event for the entire family as teams spend 24 hours walking the track raising money and awareness for cancer.  You can read the articles published about this event on the Press link on Pinkwings.com  For the 3rd year, Courtney was a team captain, as well as the Survivor Co-Chair for the event. This year, Pink Wings was proud to become a sponsor of the event.  How cool it was to see the Pink Wings Angel Logo on the back of all of the event t-shirts as a sponsor.  I am hoping Pink Wings will continue to grow so that we can sponsor more events.

In May, Courtney kept busy filling orders for custom pins and visors for teams participating in various walks for Cancer. Courtney also finally had a screening of her documentary “Courtney’s Amazing Race” at the Pacific Palisades Film Festival.  This documentary was made a few years ago as Courtney was getting ready to complete another Breast Cancer 3-Day event. The film follows Courtney and her family through a few weeks and deals with the effects that cancer has on an individual and a family.

In May- Courtney got some wonderful news!!!!!  On May 9th, she and her family were chosen to adopt a beautiful baby who had just been born earlier that day.  We named him Slayton Haven Zinszer. He was 8 lbs. 12 oz at time of birth and 20″ long.  He is the most perfect baby and a fantastic addition to the Zinszer family.  His big sisters; Sedona (12) , Sage (4) and Sienna (4) couldn’t be happier. Mommy and Daddy are beaming!! What a great gift for Mother’s Day!!

In the last  couple of months, Pink Wings has come out with more new pins.  You can view them on the website.  Our newest pin, set to arrive in just a few days, was inspired by a little girl named Madeline Ybarra. Maddie is 10-years-old.  2 years ago, she lost her mother to breast cancer. Maddie was a team captain this year for the Revlon Run/Walk and has raised almost $2,000 individually and almost $3,000 as a team of 41 members. Pink Wings is donating pins for Maddie’s team, as well as donating 100% of the proceeds from the first 27 pins sold so that Maddie can reach her goal of $2,000 for the Revlon event.  To purchase the pin- please go to www.pinkwings.com and go to our store.

Courtney will be participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in July in San Francisco.  She will also be walking in the Michigan Breast Cancer 3-Day event in August. If you would like to sponsor her in either of these events- please go to the Donate Link on the Pink Wings website.

More to come….Have a great summer!