Gilda’s Club in Royal Oak will hold its annual Bras for a Cause (BFAC) event Saturday evening at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, spreading the word about breast cancer awareness and raising thousands of dollars for research.

Many attractions will keep guests entertained throughout the night, including a musical performance by local musicians The Hard Lessons, a live auction, a strolling dinner served by local restaurants and 20 fabulous models - all breast cancer survivors or fighters.

The fashion show will be hosted by Amy Lange of Fox 2 News this year. Breast cancer survivors will strut down the catwalk modeling decorative, one-of-a-kind bras. In the three previous years BFAC has occurred, it raised $50,000 (2009), $85,000 (2010) and $60,000 (2011).

“It’s an opportunity for all of the models to get a day of pampering,” said event spokesperson Rachel Hunt, a breast cancer survivor and former BFAC model. "The models are all on top of the world. We take the sisterhood and brotherhood that starts here at Gilda's Club and we bundle it up and bring it to the Royal Oak Music Theatre."

Gilda’s Club, named in honor of the late actress/comedian Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer, is a community meeting place for those living with cancer and their loved ones.

The Rack Pack

BFAC is the brainchild of Shannon Watson. Watson was a 25-year-old bride-to-be when she learned she had breast cancer in 2006. She founded a support group called the Rack Pack for women younger than 40 and ultimately brought the BFAC idea to Gilda’s Club’s front office.

In 2009, Watson wrote in her blog:

It’s funny when I think back to the day I walked into the executive director of Gilda’s Club’s office and introduced myself as a new member. I first mentioned that I would like to start a group for young women with breast cancer. Then I started to tell him about a fundraiser I would like to plan for them that I think would raise a lot of money. I knew at the time I was the only one who could see it the way I did. The amazing thing is, when I was up there on stage the night of Bras for a Cause, I realized the night was everything I had imagined in my head. And I'm a big dreamer too.

Watson died in 2010 at the age of 29.

If you go

• What: Bras for a Cause
• When: 6-10 p.m.Saturday
• Tickets: $50; includes strolling dinner
• Food vendors include: BlackFinn, Bagger Dave's, Bufflalo Wild Wings, Inn Season Cafe, Cacao Tree Cafe, Garden Fresh Gourmet, The Melting Pot, Pizzeria Biga, Trader Joe's, Rochester Mills, and Hogger's BBQ

For more information visit brasforacausemichigan.com.