A Fort Wayne scholarship program has snagged a home renovation television star from Indianapolis for this year’s Tapestry fundraiser.
Mina Starsiak Hawk, host of “Good Bones” on HGTV, will be the keynote speaker at the 20th annual event Sept. 17.
Tapestry has raised more than $1 million and awarded 112 scholarships for health sciences students at the former IPFW campus, now Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Kim Boyce, project manager, said this year’s event is planned as an in-person gathering – although COVID-19 concerns made organizers postpone last year’s Tapestry then shift to an online format.
The event took place without the planned keynote speaker, actress Ashley Judd.
Organizers this year are “optimistic, but we are planning with caution,” Boyce said.
“We will make any adjustments as we get closer to the date,” she said, adding the event is being planned with social distancing, boxed lunches, mandatory face coverings and other guidelines to deal with COVID-19.
The event has spread out to several more rooms at Memorial Coliseum for luncheon and breakout sessions, and tables will be for seven people, not 10, she said. The event may yet go virtual, depending on what happens with the virus, Boyce added.
Tapestry typically attracts 1,500 or more attendees,
Starsiak, co-founder with her mother, Karen Laine, of the home renovation company Two Chicks and a Hammer, got started revitalizing homes in Indianapolis neighborhoods.
In 2014, the pair appeared in an HGTV pilot, “Two Chicks and a Hammer,” and in 2015, the network picked up the series with a new title, “Good Bones.”
Starsiak has appeared in other shows on HGTV, notably “A Very Brady Renovation,” a redo of the exterior of the California house used for the classic 1970s sitcom “The Brady Bunch.” “A Very Brady Renovation” premiered to 1.4 million viewers.
Starsiak also appeared in “Rock the Block” and the revival of “While You Were Out,” which aired on both HGTV and TLC in 2020.
Registration for Tapestry opens at 8 a.m. July 12. Tickets are $100 a person. Information can be found at pfw.edu/tapestry or by emailing [email protected].