Candlelight Yoga event at Lebanon Lutheran to raise money for Hope Scarves

Hope Scarves will host a Candlelight Yoga fundraiser next Thursday, Dec. 19, at Lebanon Lutheran Church in Whitehall, with 100 percent of the proceeds being donated to its cause, as well as a dollar-for-dollar match by an anonymous benefactor.

One might think six days before Christmas is an odd time for a yoga event, but Whitehall's Art Plewka, who helps put it on, said the timing is no accident.

"The intention of the yoga is we always hold it near the winter solstice," Plewka said. "The focus is on a ray of light at the darkest time."

The Hope Scarves nonprofit was born when Art's daughter, Lara Plewka McGregor, who graduated from Whitehall High School, was diagnosed with breast cancer while she was pregnant with her and husband Jason's first child in 2006. McGregor began chemotherapy immediately upon her diagnosis and, as chemotherapy patients do, lost her hair as a result of the treatments. For head covering purposes, a cancer survivor she knew gave her some scarves to wear with a note that said, "You can do this."

Once treatment was complete, McGregor sought out her friend to give the scarves back and was told that was unnecessary, as the friend didn't need them anymore. A light bulb quickly turned on in her head.

"She founded a nonprofit that would send a scarf to a woman in treatment," Plewka said. "With the scarf would come a story from the (donor). That was how the idea began. Since it was founded, they've sent out 35,000 scarves. They have over 2,000 stories in their collection. Every scarf that goes out goes out with at least one story that says, basically, 'I did it and you can do it.'"

The scarves can be made from a variety of fabrics with different designs, colors and looks. Some donors are scarf collectors passing one along from their personal stores; others are handmade.

Hope Scarves took off; Plewka said all 50 states and 37 foreign countries have had participants in the program, and the organization has partnerships with dozens of treatment centers to give scarves to those undergoing treatment.

The nonprofit has, according to its website, raised $1.3 million for metastatic cancer research. That cause in particular is, sadly, close to home for him; after she originally beat cancer, even had another child, McGregor received awful news when her cancer returned and metastasized to her bones in 2014. She passed away from the disease in 2022.

The Candlelight Yoga fundraiser is one of two Hope Scarves events Plewka hosts annually; he has also hosted a Kentucky Derby-themed fundraising event at the Book Nook for almost 10 years now. The candlelight event has also been around since 2015, though he said he didn't participate in the event in 2022 after his daughter's passing. However, with help from local yoga instructor Courtney Falkowski, whose weekly Fruitland Township class Plewka frequents, he brought it back last year.

"I just had this feeling about her and I told her about Hope Scarves and what we'd been doing," Plewka said. "Her eyes lit up and she was all over it."

Falkowski already works with cancer survivors through the YMCA's Livestrong program, so teaming with Plewka was a natural fit. She now runs the Candlelight Yoga sessions and is able to help Plewka with distributing fliers and social media outreach.

"It's just what I needed," Plewka said of Falkowski's assistance. "I am so low-tech. When she said, 'I can make the flyers,' I thought, this is a gift from heaven, because that stuff drives me crazy."

"I'm just happy I get to lead (the sessions)," Falkowski said. "Last year we had about 50 people, and that's pretty neat to see people come out and give so generously to the program."

The Hope Scarves program has recently inspired a spin-off, Hope Capes, aimed at children going through cancer treatments. The idea is that a kid can receive a cape and imagine that they are a superhero battling an insidious villain (which, in its way, cancer is). McGregor, Plewka said, always wanted to do something for young people as part of her program, and that helped inspire the Hope Capes, which also come along with empowering stories from other families - parents, children and siblings of the child if applicable - who have battled cancer or witnessed its effects on the family.

"The original cape that went out involved a child, sibling and a parent to the receiving family," Plewka said. "The first online request they received was someone who was a scarf recipient and it was a cousin of theirs, a child with leukemia, who requested a cape. Another one, the one that stuck out to me, was they were contacted by a teacher in Wisconsin with cancer. She contacted the Hope Scarves office because she knows three boys at the elementary school she works at who had been diagnosed with some form or another of cancer. All three will receive some sort of Hope Cape. 

"It's amazing to see my daughter's light of inspiration, but it makes you sad to see that there's this much need."

The yoga being done will very much, Plewka said, be beginner-level, so one does not have to be a yoga enthusiast to participate in or enjoy the session. Falkowski's brand, in fact, is called Yoga for Normal Folks, which underscores that all are welcome.

"It's not about the yoga, it's about the meditation," Plewka said. "It's about the thankfulness for the light we have that can get us through the hardest times. I've had amazing feedback from the people who were there (last year). It's just a donation, whatever people want to make, and every dollar we get goes towards the Hope Scarves mission."

Plewka will also have copies of his daughter's book, A Hopeful Life, which she finished writing shortly before passing away, available for sale. The book can be found on Amazon as well.

"She is my light," Plewka said of his daughter. "She is my hero. She lived her life to the fullest. I want to stay involved. I get so much out of it myself. I feel so fortunate to be able to do this."