Calendar Girls

What do exotic race cars and gorgeous women have in common? Answer: The 2006 Liver Wellness calendar. A bevy of gorgeous ladies, ranging in age from 40 to 75, have taken it (almost) all off for this worthy cause by posing in a fine-art photography, 15-month calendar (October 2005-December 2006) benefiting the Hepatitis Support Association.

Featuring tastefully discreet women against the backdrop of the finest in automotive design, these calendars highlight the importance of liver wellness. Barbara Veres, president of the Hepatitis Support Association, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, says, “We hope to gain a lot of ‘exposure’ on the importance of liver health and liver disease prevention. We are going to the ‘bare limits’ to raise public awareness of the unfortunate prevalence of and risk factors for hepatitis A, B, C and other liver diseases.”

Today, more people in the United States have hepatitis C than have AIDS, and it is the No. 1 cause of liver failure and transplant.

All proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go to the Hepatitis Support Association, which was created to disseminate educational information to people (and their families) who have contracted hepatitis B or C. It publishes Hepatitis, a quarterly magazine that is distributed worldwide (www.hepatitismagazine.org).

Hepatitis specializes in providing accurate, up-to-date information for hepatitis patients, their friends and their families. As the only magazine in the field, it provides one-stop shopping for the hepatitis-affected community. There will be a special autograph party with the models to launch the sale of the calendars from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22 at Cahill’s, 903 Durham. H