Tina Fowler was throwing out an edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late last year when a section “literally got stuck in my hand.” The section: Arts & Living from Dec. 16. Atop the page was the photo of a beautiful teenage girl, Summer Dale, the subject of that week’s Personal Journey feature story. She’d died a month earlier from epitheliod sarcoma, a cancer that spreads quickly in soft tissues.
As Fowler read the article, she felt tears well in her eyes. When she finished it, Fowler vowed to do something.
It was not an idle boast. A Suwanee travel agent, Fowler is the founder of a cancer fundraiser, Polo in the Park, which debuted last October. The event, held at the Polo Club of Atlanta, raised $144,000 to fund cancer research. “The community really pulled together last year,” said Fowler.
The second annual fundraiser will be Oct. 5, and will focus on funding research into the cancer that claimed Summer’s life. The goal this year: $200,000.
Cost is $150 per person, or a table for 10 at $1,500. Tickets include watching polo, “uptown Southern cuisine,’ hand-crafted cocktails and live entertainment. Lynne Dale, Summer’s mother, will speak. Haley Kilpatrick, founder of the nonprofit Girl Talk, also will speak.
Information and to order tickets: www.polointhepines.com.
Mark Davis
mdavis@ajc.com
