October is my favorite month. Not because of the pumpkin spice, the UGG boots, or the yoga pants. Not even the sweater weather, or the apple picking. October is the month of Breast Cancer awareness. October is the month I get to honor my Nanna and my Great Grandmother. October is the only month I wear pink. Every. Single. Day. October is when the ribbon changed my life.

The Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation is a well-known charity started right here in Rhode Island. They are an amazing organization run by amazing people who offer incredible free programs to women and families fighting breast cancer. On October 1, 2016, they will host their annual Flames of Hope event in the very heat of Providence. This event has changed my life.

Hope, faith, courage, strength, and dedication. These words will shine on the face of the state house. These words mean so very much to the survivors, the families of the fallen angels, and those still fighting. The State Ballet of RI has the honor of dancing for these amazing warriors. Our dances help tell their stories, of family, of love, of strength, of loss, but most importantly, of hope. I have had the honor of performing in these dances for the past two years, this year being my third.

Exposed cannot begin to describe how I feel at this event. All of the dancers put everything out in the open that night and we run on the energy being provided to us by the amazing people surrounding us. I cannot explain to you how empowering it is to be surrounded by people crying, laughing, and smiling, all because of the energy you are giving them. The flame and the torch provides such a strong image of strength and hope. This year I will have the incredible honor of bringing the torch out for the first time.

This event spans over the entire center of providence starting at the state house and ending at the water fire basin. The most important thing about this event though is that it cannot end that night. It cannot end with the fireworks illuminating the sky over the pink statehouse. It does not end for those warriors still fighting, not for the families who lost an angel. That lives with them every day and the feeling of hope, and community is something we need to carry with us every day.

We need to support, donate, and love. We need to carry the torch for these men and women fighting for their lives every day. We need to carry the torch for the daughter about to lose her mom, for the women who don't feel beautiful anymore, for the men suffering from the same cancer, for the mother about to lose her daughter much too young. Every year, I vow to carry the torch all year. I donate. Not just money, but my time, my talents. We dance for you warriors and angels.

So on October 1, 2016, come to Providence and be changed. Be loved. Dance in the center of Providence, break a board for breast cancer, eat cake, wear every single item of pink clothes you own, wear a tutu, glow sticks, a bandana, knee socks, paint your face. Watch the state house be illuminated in pink, watch a human ribbon be made, watch the ballerinas dance, watch people of every walk of life carry torches from the state house to the water where they will warm your soul. Come and have hope.

This ribbon changed my life. I challenge it to change yours.