Last year, Pangborn raised over $700 for South Bend's S-O-S Rape Crisis Center with its Project Pink event, and rector Sr. Mary Donnelly was hopeful this year's event would be even more successful.
"Last year we raised a little over $700," she said. "Hopefully we can hit that or beyond. At the rate funding is being cut, everything we can do helps."
The fourth annual Project Pink was held Friday at Legends. The commissioners of the event, sophomore Kathleen Kastenholz and senior Rebecca Palacios, said they have been planning the event since before Christmas.
Palacios said the event has evolved since Pangborn adopted it four years ago.
"It started as a vintage fashion show with a retro theme," she said. "We wanted a more diverse selection of items, so we adopted a new theme."
The event raised money for the Center by having a silent auction to bid on articles of clothing in the fashion show, raffling items and selling Project Pink sunglasses and T-shirts. Many of the silent auction and raffle items were donated, including a gift certificate to local boutique Inspire Me and a pair of pink Crocs from Notre Dame Sports Marketing.
In keeping with the retro theme of the fashion show, Kastenholz began shopping for pink clothes at consignment shops and vintage stores; some of the clothes were also donated. It was Kastenholz who also come up with this year's tag line: "Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude."
"I saw it on a sign and thought it was perfect," she said.
Project Pink used to also have an event where participants could donate their hair for making wigs, however, Pangborn has since teamed up with "The Bald and the Beautiful," a campus wide event for cancer research.
When planning the fashion show, Palacios was able to bring her experience from an internship in event planning. Both girls were also responsible for coordinating models and helping the girls put together outfits with the donated clothes. The models were all volunteers from Pangborn.
"I was in the show last year and it was really fun and a really great cause, that's why I applied for commissioner," Kastenholz said.
Both commissioners also were apart of planning prom fashion shows at their high schools and said that experience was helpful in planning Project Pink.
"The Center has so many different services and they are all free of charge," Kastenholz said. "The money we raised to be donated will be used where it can."
The event was not just about the fashion show — BlackMagic, a magic and comedy show featuring junior Eugene Staples and senior Eras Noel, performed, as well as Halftime, a campus a capella group.
