Woman To Turn Canceled Wedding Into Benefit Gala

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- Robin Rogers and her fiancee had their wedding all planned: the engagement pictures were taken, the invitations were designed, but the couple canceled the wedding six months before the big day.

"When we initially called it off it was heartbreaking because it was the realization that it wasn't going to work," Rogers told CBS 2's Cindy Hsu. "And so, after a lot of crying, my next thought was okay, what now?"

Nine thousand dollars had already been spent on everything from booking the space to a deposit for the dress. Instead of letting all that money go to waste, Rogers thought of the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry in her neighborhood.

"I thought what a great fundraiser and I know how amazing the work that they do here is and they feed people out of almost nothing," Rogers said. "So I thought let's earn some money, let's have a really fun party and have some funds raised for the soup kitchen."

So she and Pastor Ann Kansfield turned her wedding celebration plans -- invites and all -- into a fundraiser for the soup kitchen.

"I think a really good response when there's tragedy in your life is to find a way to be grateful for what you have, and I think that's exactly what Robin did," Kansfield said.

The hunger progra, at the church feeds more than 500 people every week. Kansfield said she is hoping the weekend fundraiser will be a healing experience for everyone.

"They will be able to say, 'our relationship didn't last forever, but the time that we had together ended on such a wonderful note and ended with a way to really be a blessing for others,'" Kansfield said.

The gala will be held this Sunday and Rogers is hoping to raise $10,000 for the hunger program at the Brooklyn church.

Rogers' fiance lives out of state and won't be attending the fundraiser. However, he spoke with Kansfield on Friday and said he was very happy to learn how the wedding deposit money was being used.