Fashion may have been the focus on the runway Tuesday night, but the spotlight was on addiction treatment and recovery.
Those in attendance at the first ever Lauren’s Wish Fashion Show at the Erickson Alumni Center were treated to a runway-style display from models wearing apparel from nearly a dozen local women’s and men’s clothing vendors.
Hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction and a signature sangria and Chambord cocktail completed the evening’s atmosphere at the sold-out event. There were 400 seats available.
The sky is the limit as far as fundraising goals for the event, said Michael Cole, the founder and chairman of Lauren’s Wish and father of the organization’s namesake, Lauren Cole, who despite not fitting the un-informed stereotype, suffered from addiction until July 2020, when she was sold a lethal dose of fentanyl.
According to her father, Lauren’s passion was social work, in which she was pursuing a master’s degree at West Virginia University, and helping those suffering from substance abuse disorder.
“She told me a few weeks before she passed that there are so many kids and people that are struggling with substance abuse and want help, but they don’t have the resources or family to get it,” Cole said. “She wondered if one day when I retired if she and I could do something about it.
“And I said ‘Yeah, yes I will.’ Unfortunately, Lauren relapsed three weeks later and passed from fentanyl poisoning,” he said. “So, that’s how Lauren’s Wish came about.”
Lauren’s Wish is the nonprofit organization started by her father in West Virginia to help those struggling with substance use disorder to find hope and recover from this disease.
Cole said one of the things his family recognized throughout the addiction recovery process was a lack of intermediate stage in recovery.
When people would go to the emergency room for a substance abuse issue, he said, they would be released as soon as they were medically stable.
“They were released right back into the same environment that put them there,” he said.
Treatment centers can take some time to get into and Cole said it can take weeks before a bed becomes readily available, leaving those in recovery to navigate on their own.
Lauren’s Wish board member Mike Castle said, “There is nothing, there is nothing in the state and probably two facilities in the entire country that address that moment of time, that gap period when people are the most vulnerable.”
All of the money earned from the fashion show will help solve that problem at the intermediate stage, Cole said. The organization has nearly completed a 28-bed, 14-room addiction triage center called Lauren’s Wish at Hazel’s House of Hope.
Once qualified staff is hired, the center is ready to provide a place for people to be transported from hospitals and emergency rooms once they are medically stable and will maintain their care until a longer term treatment center opens up.
“We can’t necessarily impact the amount of drugs brought to our area,” Cole said. “But what we can do is choke out the demand by helping those suffering from substance abuse get healed and educated.”
Cole said, as he fought back emotions, that the ultimate goal is to try to help other families and individuals not go through what he and his family are going through.
Cole was overwhelmed by the way the event turned out, giving most of the credit for the success to the committee that worked to make it all come together and his fellow board members, who did not hesitate to help when he told them he wanted to fulfill Lauren’s Wish.
“It’s sad and really hard to accept that Lauren’s not here to help us but she’s definitely guiding us from above,” Cole said. “This is what she wanted. She wanted to help and make a difference, so we are going to follow through for her and follow her guidance.”
