Northwest Indiana Breast Care Center at Methodist Hospitals supports Lori’s Smile Fourth Annual Gala with a Director’s Sponsorship

The Dunes Pavilion had a lively atmosphere on Saturday, March 21, to spotlight an important cause through a fun celebration. Lori’s Smile hosted its fourth annual gala night with the community. The Northwest Indiana Breast Care Center at Methodist Hospitals supported the event with a Director’s Sponsorship.

Each year, the Lori’s Smile Gala has had a unique theme for everyone in attendance. Last year, the event was celebrated with the Roaring 20s. This year transitioned from a theme of time to location, as attendees were able to participate in the Classic Hollywood atmosphere. 

Jennifer Sanders, manager of the Northwest Indiana Breast Care Center at Methodist Hospitals, believes this event is a great opportunity to recognize a great cause.

“We’ve just recently started partnering with Lori’s Smile a couple years ago, and I’ve been in the field for 28 years. And so in my 28 years, we come along groups of people and associations that want to help. And Lori’s Smile’s mission is real, you know, Alan losing his wife, and Amanda losing her mother is a devastating thing,” said Sanders. “So it’s just a great partnership to have with them and we’re very appreciative of all the hard work that they put in all year long to donate dollars to the breast center.”

Lori’s Smile is an organization in Porter County that focuses on providing funds to women who may not otherwise be able to receive the help they need for breast cancer screenings. The organization was formed to honor Lori Furmankiewicz, who passed away from breast cancer in 2020.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s everything that we could dream of. So, a little back story is Lori, from Lori’s Smile, was my mom, and she passed away in 2020 from breast cancer. So, we’re trying to bring them to life, keep her memory alive, and then practice prevention and bring awareness to breast cancer and all of that,” Amanda Schumann, Treasurer of Lori’s Smile, said.

The event has continued to grow each year since it started, and a packed crowd this year kept that trend alive once again.

“It has increased by a lot. We started with only like 70 people coming, and now we’re at 150 to 200 people,” said Schumann.

As a sponsor for the event this year, the Northwest Indiana Breast Care Center at Methodist Hospitals felt that the story and mission of Lori’s Smile aligns perfectly with what specialized breast nurses, radiologists, oncologists, surgeons, genetic counselors, patient navigators, and technologists work with on a daily basis.

“It’s the same mission, you know, saving lives, catching cancer early, bringing early detection to the women in the community. They have numerous events throughout the year that they’re out educating and bringing awareness to the disease. So it’s the perfect union,” said Sanders.

People came to the gala ready to show off their best look for the Classic Hollywood theme. Some of these Hollywood icons included Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Ingrid Bergman, James Stewart, and Marilyn Monroe.

“Everybody has gotten into it today and dressed up and done it. Last year was the roaring 20s, one year was a beach theme, and most of the people get in and do it. And this pavilion here, being from that time period, just makes the whole Old Hollywood theme work so so well,” said Alan Furmankiewicz.

The event was filled with excitement all throughout the four-hour celebration. Lori’s Smile hopes to continue this gala for many years to come, as it spreads awareness about breast care in the local communities.

“We hope to keep being able to support the partner, the cancer centers that we support, and to be able to grow and add more cancer centers and stretch our reach out. We’ve gotten a little footprint near Fort Wayne. We’ve got people from Indian defenders from Indianapolis here tonight. We are just going to continue to grow and help as many people as we can,” said Furmankiewicz. “We feel that we found an unserved part of the breast cancer journey. You know, we’re not about research, which is great, but when a lady needs a test or needs to get to a test, we have been fulfilling that need, and that’s the best part. And from our partners, 46 of the patients that we have helped are now cancer free, and that’s what we’re happy about, that we had our little part in that, in that journey, that they’re now cancer free.”

You can learn more about Lori’s Smile by visiting lori39ssmile.wildapricot.org. On the website, there is a Donation tab if you are interested in supporting the organization.For more information on the Northwest Indiana Breast Care Center at Methodist Hospitals, you can visit methodisthospitals.org/services/breast-care-center-at-methodist-hospitals.