By Michelle Williams
Within a month of moving in, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Salon has already hosted the first charitable event at its new downtown Carmel location. The salon held a cut-a-thon and silent auction on May 31 to benefit Kathy Sumner, the mother of founding member Stephanie O’Hara.
Owner Tanya Foster explained that the salon hosts a similar benefit each year, with proceeds benefitting various causes in the past.
“We just didn’t know we would be doing this for Stephanie’s mom,” Foster said. “We spend so much time helping other people, and now one of our own needs help. The response has been overwhelming.”
“They’re very good about doing things in the community to benefit people,” Sumner said. “I feel so blessed that they would want to do this for me.”
O’Hara said that she learned in a company-wide meeting that the salon’s community committee had decided to benefit her mother in 2015.
“I accepted on her behalf, because I wasn’t sure if she would,” O’Hara said. With a tear in her eye, she added, “I didn’t know it would mean as much to them as it means to me.”
Sumner discovered in October after a 20 year remission that she was re-diagnosed with Stage Four Metastatic Breast Cancer.
“I hadn’t even thought about it since remissions usually happen more quickly than 20 years. It’s been tougher this time,” she said. She recalled that her daughter’s friends from the salon came to her aid immediately upon hearing the news, helping her to take care of her home in Alexandria, Ind.
At the end of the day, the KKBB cut-a-thon raised over $11,000 to financially support Sumner’s battle with cancer.
“I don’t think my daughter could have picked a better salon to work for. Everyone’s been so gracious and I just want them all to know how much it means to me,” Sumner said.
