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By Pam BurrusPosted: December 22, 2007 Jena Sims, 2007 Miss Georgia Teen USA has been nominated for the 6th Annual Volvo for Life Awards as a semifinalist!! There are 4 categories and she is nominated under the "Quality of Life" division and I am requesting your help. PLEASE go to the Volvo for Life Awards website and vote, vote, VOTE for her and her organization!! You can vote as many times as you want (but please only one vote per minute per rules and regs) and voting lasts until noon EST on January 7, 2008. The finalists will receive $25,000 in funding for their organizations and become eligible for awards of up to a total of $100,000 in funding, a trip to the 6th Annual Awards Gala in New York City – and even a Volvo for life! "It is the most surreal feeling in the world when your named is called as a winner," says Jena Sims, a frequent beauty pageant contestant and the current Miss Georgia Teen USA.
Called "Has Been Beauty Queens, Inc." to acknowledge the active role former pageant queens have in developing these new pageants, Jena's organization created the Pageant of Hope. Pageant of Hope gives children who never thought they would be able to compete in a beauty pageant a chance to be celebrated by family, friends, and others in their community. Having lost both of her grandfathers to cancer when she was ten years old, Jena has dedicated many years to raising money for a cure. Now a college freshman, she has raised over $80,000 dollars for cancer research. The Pageant of Hope project allows her to make a difference in a way that goes beyond simple fundraising. Open to both boys and girls, each child who participates in one of the pageants has a chance to get a makeover, learn the "pageant strut," dress in his or her fanciest clothes, and stand in the spotlight in front of family and friends. At the end of the pageant, each child leaves a winner with titles such as "Best Eyes," "Best Hair," or "Best Smile." The pageants are also a fundraising opportunity, with over a thousand dollars in donations collected at the door at her first event. So far, Jena has held Pageants of Hope in various places around the country, including California, Georgia, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin, but her goal is to bring the event to all fifty states. Though the pageants keep Jena busy raising money, scheduling events, and networking to expand the program nationwide, the most challenging aspect of the work is knowing that whatever happiness she is able to bring to these children, it is fleeting.
To learn more about Jena Sims and her cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.jenasims.com/pageantofhope.php. |
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Knowing what a special moment that is, Jena has sought to make it a reality
for other children who are themselves very special. In 2004, Jena set up a nonprofit
organization to raise money for a different kind of beauty pageant, one especially
for children suffering from cancer. Jena has involved over 50 former queens
in 8 States for her event, and has hopes of holding her 
There is still no cure for cancer, and though the pageant participants may
be a "prince" or "princess" for a day, for many of them
the following day will bring a return to radiation appointments or a regimen
of powerful drugs. But her gift to them may last longer than she thinks. As
a young girl who survived leukemia wrote to her about her Pageant of Hope experience,
"I never knew that kids could be so sick and that you could spend one day
with them and change their lives!" For a child living with cancer, even
just one day in which they are celebrated for who they are rather than defined
by the disease that they have can change their own outlook on life for all their
days to come. 
