Local Noblesville, Indiana, favorite the Patrick Heelen Trio will headline an impressive roster of musicians in a special fund-raiser for three families devastated by October’s rare tornado outbreak.

The Patrick Heelen Trio will lead a special concert to raise funds for three Noblesville, Indiana, families displaced by October’s rare tornado outbreak, according to a press statement issued today.

The Patrick Heelen Trio – an unusual combination featuring Patrick Heelen on clarinet, Vanessa Williams on cello and David Barros on piano – will headline an eclectic and impressive slate featuring six other bands from various national corners, covering musical genres as disparate as classical, country and grunge rock.

“This is a real celebration of music, but more importantly it’s a celebration of community,” said Patrick Heelen, a resident of nearby Westfield, Indiana, who spearheaded the fund-raising concert after reading about the Miller, Mattingly and Farber families.

The three families found themselves at ground zero when a series of thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through Indiana on Oct. 27, 2011. According to official reports from the National Weather Service, at least nine tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down during the rare fall outbreak.

Damage was reported across Indiana, from southeast Dearborn County to northwest Porter County. A reported F1 tornado packing 85 mile-per-hour winds reportedly was on the ground for five full minutes, during which time it tore through a Wal-Mart store in Wabash County, while several homes across the state were damaged or destroyed.

Among them: The homes of the Miller, Mattingly and Farber families, clustered together between corn fields in central Noblesville. No member of any of the three families was injured, but the Miller and Farber homes were totaled and the Mattingly household was so damaged that local officials had no choice but to condemn the structure.

“Mother Nature can be really fickle,” Patrick Heelen noted. “There’s no rhyme or reason why these three houses should be destroyed, while rows of houses less than half a mile away were untouched. But they were destroyed, and these families need this community’s help.”

Several fund-raisers have occurred since the October storms, all designed to help the three families get through their most trying time. The latest will be the special musical concert scheduled for Feb. 21 at Noblesville High School on Cumberland Road. The event was originally scheduled for Noblesville’s famous Klipsch Music Center, an outdoor amphitheater, but organizers decided to move it indoors rather than risk inclement weather spoiling the fun – and lowering the funds.

“These people are waiting for our help,” Patrick Heelen noted. “The last thing we need is a blizzard or something coming along and postponing [the concert].”

The Patrick Heelen Trio, which has graved the Klipsch Music Center and other large-scale venues between Indiana and Chicago, is expected to perform several classical selections written by Beethoven and Brahms and rescored for the unusual piano-cello-clarinet combo. Other acts scheduled for the Feb. 21 concert include the Indianapolis-based country music band Freedom Sisters; Indianapolis-based show-tune crooner Gary Brown; Stamford, Conn.-based rockers Space Junk; Portland, Oregon-based garage band Butter Knife Fight; and Spanish guitar experts Tito and Miranda Garza of Corsicana, Texas.

Funds raised by the concert will support house-reconstruction efforts for the Miller, Mattingly and Farber families. According to the statement released today by the Patrick Heelen Trio, about $155,000 has already been raised since the first donations were made in November at a special basketball tournament hosted by the Noblesville School District.

“These are good people,” Patrick Heelen said. “And a really terrible thing happened to them, something that could happen to any one of us. As a musician, I’m always happy to put on a show. But as a member of this community, we should all be happy to help a neighbor in need, so I hope there’s a huge turnout Feb. 21. Should be a great show!”


About Patrick Heelen
Patrick Heelen, 46, is a noted clarinetist currently residing in Westfield, Indiana, with his wife, Julianne, and their 10-year-old son. He is the leader of the Patrick Heelen Trio, a well-regarded classical ensemble known throughout the Midwest for its moving performances. Heelen, a Brooklyn, New York native and graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, is a part-time music instructor in the Noblesville (Indiana) School District. Patrick Heelen enjoys hiking and painting in his spare time.

Bellaire, Texas, 9-year-old was turned away from charity bike-a-thon, so he decided to donate his birthday gifts to cancer-support groups.

The kindness and generosity of a Bellaire, Texas, 9-year-old has become a rallying cry for cancer-related charities in the Greater Houston area.

Although his mother and older brother are participating, Patrick Heelen was turned away from the Greater Houston Ride-a-Thon because of his young age. Undaunted, the boy – who turned 9 on Jan. 26 – decided to donate all of the cash he received as birthday presents to the cause, according to a statement released today by the Greater Houston Ride-a-Thon organizers.

“I just thought I should do it,” Patrick Heelen said. “I wanted to ride in the Greater Houston ever since mom and [Jonathan, his big brother] did it last year, and I was pretty disappointed when they told me you had to be at least 12.

“This seemed like a good way to contribute instead,” he added. “Because, I think cancer is a really important cause.”

The two-day Greater Houston event invites participants to pedal around the city several times – logging about 100 miles each – on Feb. 18 and 19, with an overnight stay at a downtown hotel. The bikers solicit private donations to raise cash for cancer research.

“Unbelievable – that’s the only word for it,” said Martha Lundeen, chief organizer of the Greater Houston. “I mean, from all accounts, this kid just decided on his own that he’d rather give that money away than keep it for himself. Somebody’s raising him right.”

But young Patrick didn’t only donate his birthday cash. In addition to the $225 he gifted directly to the Greater Houston Ride-a-Thon, he donated some $250 in Best Buy and Target gift cards and several other items – including new video games and Pokemon cards – to the MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital at the University of Texas.

“I love all of my gifts, and I don’t want anyone to think I didn’t appreciate them,” Patrick Heelen said. “But when I think about these little kids in the hospital just trying to live and get through this really bad sickness that’s attacking them, I think they probably would have a good time playing with this stuff. It might make them feel better while they’re getting better.”

The Heelen family is no stranger to cancer. Two of Patrick Heleen’s cousins on his mother’s side contracted and ultimately succumbed to forms of lymphoma, while both of his paternal grandparents also died from cancer-related complications. Patrick’s mother, Jane, has participated in three previous Greater Houston Ride-a-Thons; this year marks the second charity ride for Jonathan, who’s also participated in Walk For Life fundraisers hosted by his local school district.

“I was very proud of Patrick when he told me he wanted to do this,” Jane Heelen said. “I knew he was very disappointed when we found out he couldn’t participate in the Greater Houston, but I never expected he would do this. I even told him that donating the cash would be enough, but he insisted on donating the gift cards and toys to the hospital. Even I was surprised by his generosity.”

The 9-year-old’s selfless act “definitely” led to an uptick in Greater Houston participation and donations, according to Lundeen.

“When word spread that the kid had done this, the phones started ringing off the hook,” the event organizer said. “I’ve been involved with this annual event for four years, and I can tell you this is the most participants we’ve ever had and the most money we’ve ever raised, by far. And I can tell you that more than half of the participants signed up after Patrick Heelen made his donation, which is rare, because we usually get more sign-ups in the earlier parts of registration.”

“I’m glad the Greater Houston is going to have a big year,” said Patrick Heelen, who plans to meet his mom and brother for the overnight stay downtown. “People should donate to causes like this, because they’re important and because kids are dying from cancer all the time. If we can help, we should.”

About Patrick Heelen
Patrick Heelen is a 9-year-old resident of Bellaire, Texas. An avid baseball, football and basketball fan, he attends The Post Oak School in Bellaire and is a well-known philanthropist in his community. He lives with his mother, Jane, and his brothers Jonathan and Harrison.

Touched by an act of kindness, Alta Vista, Kansas, resident Patrick Heelen aims to return the favor a thousand times over by enlisting friends and neighbors in his self-styled “Good Samaritan Movement.”

When a group of vacationing college students pulled Patrick Heelen from the wreckage of a one-car crash on the night of Dec. 29, 2011, they may have saved more than one life.

Moved by the kindness of the strangers who rescued him, Heelen plans to lead a self-styled “Good Samaritan Movement” on Feb. 11 on the grounds of Ag Heritage Park in Alta Vista, Kansas, where he hopes to encourage “at least 1,000 people to commit a random act of kindness,” according to a press statement issued today.

Heelen, an Alta Vista resident, was vacationing with his family at the Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont – but alone in his car when it skidded off a back road near the resort. The accident occurred around 1 a.m. and “there wasn’t another car in sight,” he noted.

“My leg was broken, I had no cell phone and let me tell you, that road was pretty dark,” Patrick Heelen said. “If those kids hasn’t come along and helped me out, I might still be stuck there.”

Heelen’s rental car had hit an icy patch and slammed into a tree, breaking his left leg in two places and “basically pinning me between the door, the airbag and the bent dashboard,” he said. He’s not sure if he blacked out, Heelen added, but he’s certain he sat immobilized in the freezing car “for at least 90 minutes” before headlights appeared on the road behind him.

“They could have kept going, but they stopped,” Patrick Heelen said. “They got me out of the car and called 911, but then they decided to just drive me to the hospital themselves.”

“He was clearly in pain, and I think he was a little disoriented,” noted Michael Fridman, one of the four Boston University underclassmen who happened upon Heelen and sprang to his rescue. “I didn’t think we should wait for an ambulance, so we called 911 back told them we were taking him right to the hospital.”

Heelen spent the better part of the last month recuperating at Copley Hospital in Morrisville, Vermont, where three screws were placed in his broken leg. Upon returning home to Alta Vista on Jan. 23, the manager of a small chain of organic grocery stores decided to return the kindness shown him by Fridman and his classmates by organizing his “Good Samaritan Movement.”

“I hope 10,000 people come,” Patrick Heelen said. “I hope a million come. But if I can tell 1,000 people about what those kids did for me and get them to do 1,000 nice things for other people, then I’ll be extremely gratified.”

Heelen’s event should not be confused with the “Good Samaritan Movement” that gathered Jan. 29 in New York City’s Union Square Park, a function of the World Mission Society Church of God. That event, which launched World Mission Society’s Food of Life food-donation campaign, shares a sentiment with Heelen’s event, but little else.

Neighbors of Patrick Heelen and his wife of 14 years, Catherine, are not surprised the family would be involved in a kindness-spreading movement.

“They’re wonderful people,” said Stacey Blackley, who lived across the road from the Heelens for 10 years. “I’m very close with Catherine, and Patrick is always out mowing his lawn or kicking the ball around with his kids and my kids. At barbecues and school plays, they’re just the nicest family, and it makes perfect sense that Patrick Heelen would try to inspire others to be nice and help others.”

The Alta Vista “Good Samaritan Movement” is scheduled to begin at noon Feb. 11, according to the press statement, and all are invited to attend.

“Those boys might have saved my life,” Patrick Heelen said. “I am forever in their debt, and it seems to me the best way to repay them is to spread their kindness to someone else. These are the traits that make a person a human being.”

About Patrick Heelen
Patrick Heelen, 44, is the owner and manager of a chain of organic markets in the Topeka, Kansas region. He lives in Alta Vista, Kansas, with his wife of 14 years, Catherine, and their two children. A major college basketball fan and regular churchgoer, Patrick Heelen enjoys skiing and stamp collecting, and is an avid fan of baroque music.

Provo, Utah man comes to the rescue after devastating fire injures five household pets, whose owner was already in the hospital at the time of the blaze.

Local resident Patrick Heelen is lending a helping paw to several puppies and a cat injured in a fire last month in Provo, Utah.

According to a special statement released today, Heelen is organizing an “Animals Are People, Too” fundraiser to cover veterinary bills and temporary housing for the six pets, who suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation when fire ripped through their second-story North University Avenue apartment. The fundraiser will include a combination bake sale/book sale/raffle and is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 5, in the basement of Provo’s New Morning Church.

“I’m not a major animal lover or anything,” Patrick Heelen said. “But these helpless little critters need a hand while their owner recovers.”

Pet owner Daniel Dean is not recovering from the fire – he was already in the Intermediate Care Wing at Utah State Hospital on East Center Street, according to Heelen, when the blaze broke out in the wee hours of Jan. 23. Dean was recovering from a one-car accident suffered the night before, Patrick Heelen noted, and when the fire started in the Lotus Fortune Chinese restaurant downstairs from Deans apartment and quickly spread upstairs, firefighters at first didn’t know the six animals were trapped.

When neighbors alerted them that Dean kept several pets in his spacious, four-bedroom home, emergency personnel – who were still busy knocking down the fire – made their way upstairs and found the five canines and one feline huddled in a back bedroom, according to Patrick Heelen, a close friend of Dean’s.

“Rescue personnel did a terrific job saving these animals,” noted Dr. Michelle Bohm, director of the Cottonwood Veterinary Hospital in nearby Pleasant View, Utah. “These men risked their lives to save these animals, and managed to get them all out alive.”

But rescuing the pets was only half the battle. With Dean – an unemployed schoolteacher who was laid off in June 2011 after 14 years with the Salt Lake City School District – scheduled to remain hospitalized through the end of February, recovering from a broken pelvis and other serious internal injuries, the healthcare and boarding costs for his six animals are piling up. So Heelen decided to step up.

“What I hope is that these pups and that cat will be there waiting for Daniel when he’s ready to come home,” Patrick Heelen said. “They say pet therapy is a great tool for helping sick and injured people recover, and Dan’s is going to need all the help he can get.”

While it will be many months before Lotus Fortune is ready to reopen, Dean’s apartment and another large apartment located above the North University Avenue restaurant have been cleared for occupancy. Heelen and several of Dean’s friends have been cleaning the place in anticipation of Dean’s return, and the plan is to have the five dogs – Jody, Tipper, Sheba, Chuck and Nails – and their feline friend Mima home and waiting when “daddy” arrives.

“They’re in fairly good health,” Patrick Heelen said. “But it did cost several thousand dollars to treat them after the fire, and the boarding costs are in the several hundreds of dollars each day. It’s really adding up.

“Everybody who knows Daniel loves him,” added Heelen, a housepainter and lifelong Provo resident who attended Provo High School with Dean and has known him for more than 35 years. “If someone he knew was laid up in the hospital and needed help like this, he’d do everything he could. He loves those animals, and it’s a blessing that they survived. Now we have to make sure they all wind up back home together, safe and sound.”

About Patrick Heelen
Patrick Heelen, 51, is a professional housepainter and lifelong resident of Provo, Utah, where he lives with his wife, Christine, and their six children. A huge fan of the Utah Jazz professional basketball team, Patrick Heelen is an avid fisherman and enjoys reading and playing chess in his spare time.

Pat Heelen Styling, New York’s top styling firm has announced their expansion and new location for its New York Headquarters. The new 5th avenue location has alluded to an increase in the firms’ clientele as well as celebrity representation.

Pat Heelen Styling has been around since 1992. It is one of the first Styling firms to accept New York locals, and even do Pro Bono styling. Celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, the Pat Heelen styling firm moved to a new 5th avenue location overlooking all of New York City. The new headquarters is aesthetically very beautiful, and has gowns and outfits by the most lucrative Fashion Designers.

The firm hosted a 20 year ‘Birthday Party’ where celebrities, as well as many of New York’s upper class, attended. The Styling firm’s creator Pat Heelen made a speech thanking her guests, and expressed her excitement for the firms’ new agenda for 2012. The 20th anniversary yielded a lot of buzz from the press, and even alluded to an expansion in the Styling Firms’ client pool.

“Our new location is simply to die for. It overlooks New York City, and it is definitely the best home for the best fashion. I am so happy I got to celebrate this wonderful evening with my clients, who have become great friends through the years.” says Pat Heelen styling Creator Pat Heelen.

The new location is on the 39th floor and is 1,000 square feet. Within the facility there are several ‘Changing rooms’ all equipped with surround mirrors and top of the line leather furniture. There is a room for every Fashion item, such as a ‘Shoe Room’ and ‘Bag Room’. Some designers, such as Chanel and Gucci have a room of their own couture, which only the most lucrative of Pat Heelen members have access to.

The anniversary party was a New York City event which many yearned to attend. The press were not allowed in, giving the celebrity guests a night off. Inside, guests were served by models, wearing couture gowns and suits. The night was filled with dancing, dining, and awarded many of Pat Heelen’s partners.

The Styling firm announced its upcoming Pro-Bono project, stating that it would revolutionize fashion as we know it. They also announced their upcoming launching of the Pat Heelen blog, and their recent collaboration with various Fashion Designers. Pat Heelen spoke of her recent hiring of a new team of Fashion Stylists, whose jobs are to deal with ‘recession shopping’ or shopping for those on a budget.
 
“Pat Heelen Styling is the most Fashion Forward, and thoughtful, styling agency I have ever been associated with. When I say thoughtful, I mean they seek to help every type of person all the way from the poor, who need lower end fashion forward clothing to New York City’s upper class wearing only couture. Pat Heelen herself is a fashion icon whose input is incorporated into many of the biggest designers most recent designs.”

More About Pat Heelen
A lover of Fashion from a very young age, Pat Heelen started her very own Styling firm called Pat Heelen Styling. She is an alumnus of Parson’s New School of Design, and has worked in Gucci and for several of New York City’s most lucrative stylists. Now, she represents many famous stylists, and has styled celebrities and members of New York City’s upper elite. She believes that fashion is an art, and it demonstrates one’s identity. Pat Heelen currently resides in uptown New York City and is in the midst of writing her own Fashion Blog and Book.

Nearly 40 years after passing the bar and opening his solo office, lawyer Patrick Heelen now commands a 15-associate firm that enjoyed its biggest year ever in 2011, setting records for new cases and settlement valuation.

Attorney Patrick Heelen doesn’t get older – he gets better.

And if it’s true of the namesake, it’s true of his Patrick Heelen & Associates law firm, a 38-year-old Lubbock, Texas institution that enjoyed its biggest year ever in 2011. According to a statement released today by Heelen & Associates’ marketing department, the firm – which focuses on personal-injury matters – set new records last year for number of cases taken, number of cases successfully resolved and total valuation of recovered settlements.

“I’m so very proud of our partners and our excellent administrative staff,” said Patrick Heelen, 67, who graduated in 1973 from the University of Texas Law School and immediately opened his firm, staffed at the time only by himself, his girlfriend Lynn and his nephew Nicholas, who “answered phones and got lunch and made himself really helpful around the office after school and during the summer.”

Nearly four decades later, a few things have changed. Nicholas himself is an attorney – practicing environmental law on Long Island, New York – and Lynn is Heelen’s wife (they tied the knot in 1975). And Patrick is no longer the only attorney in his firm; Patrick Heelen & Associates boasts three partners, including Patrick, and 12 other attorneys, as well as a team of more than 20 legal aides, secretaries and office managers.

“I’ve certainly been blessed in business,” Patrick Heelen said. “Through the years, we’ve managed to grow the firm somewhat, through honest effort and a good work ethic.”

Never was that truer than in 2011, when Patrick Heelen & Associates took on and won more cases than ever in its history. Noting his staff “delivered some impressive settlements and real peace of mind” to hundreds of clients, Heelen credited his firm’s success to a strong advertising campaign and a healthy number of referrals.

“We advertise heavily on the radio and the Internet, and through social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook,” Patrick Heelen said. “I’m not an expert when it comes to the Internet, but we have a smart marketing department that knows what it is doing.

“And probably half of our business comes from word-of-mouth referrals from existing clients,” he added. “That’s just about the best endorsement any business can get.”

Those referrals, Heelen noted, stem from the fact that he and his staff are not only legal eagles, but are dedicated to the idea and ideals of proper customer service.

“That’s where it starts, whether you’re an attorney or a butcher or you sell cars,” said Sandra Adar, who became Heelen & Associates’ third partner in 2010. “We put the clients’ needs first and made sure they know their concerns are our concerns. That’s something Patrick Heelen has drilled into every attorney that’s ever passed through these doors.”

Heelen also cited several successful medical malpractice settlements and an uptick in worker’s compensation cases (“People are much more interested in suing after they get laid off”) as ingredients in the firm’s successful stew. But nothing has benefitted Heelen & Associates, which added its 14th and 15th attorneys in December, more than that service-first attitude, according to its founder.

“It’s always been that way,” he said. “You grow your business by knowing your industry better than everyone else – in our case, knowing Texas law better than anyone else – and by making sure your customers or clients know you really care about them.

“That mindset has helped me ever since I got out of school,” Patrick Heelen added. “And it definitely helped us grow in 2011.”

About Patrick Heelen
Attorney at Law Patrick Heelen, 67, was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. A 1973 graduate of the University of Texas Law School, he has been in private legal practice in Lubbock, Texas, for the past 39 years. A former president of the Lubbock Merchants Association and candidate for the Lubbock City Council, Patrick Heelen lives in Abernathy, Texas, with his wife of 37 years, Lynn, and their golden retrievers Elvis and Priscilla.

Pat Heelen, renowned NYC fashion stylist for actors and celebrities, defines her area of expertise as ‘The philosophy of Fashion’. Stylist creates new term, and brings an entirely new meaning to Fashion.

Fashion experts define their role as exemplars of trend and style. They define style as a form of art and expression, but yet follow a set of guidelines to create their fashion. Pat Heelen, however, takes a very different approach. As New York City’s top fashion stylist, Pat Heelen announced, at a Press Conference earlier this week, that Fashion should be a determinant of our inner being. Her definition of Fashion can be directly correlated to that of Philosophy, and so Pat Heelen is now labeled ‘A Fashion Philosopher’.

“We all are familiar with the philosophical phrase ‘I think, therefore I am’, I take that phrase, and apply it to Fashion: ‘I dress, therefore I am.” We are all individual beings compiled of different thoughts, experiences, and goals. We all can’t let that be known from a mere encounter with us, but we can express our true selves through Fashion. Fashion defines us, and it has the ability to allow us to demonstrate to the world who we are inside.” says Fashion Philosopher and top NYC stylist Pat Heelen.

This new term alluded to a major breakthrough in Fashion, for it redefined the way many locals even defined fashion. The new term, created early February, also helped put Pat Heelen on the fashion map. By creating the term ‘philosophy of fashion’, Pat Heelen led to the understanding that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to dress. Everyone uses their body as a template for their expressive self. If they believe two colors can go together, then they can. “No one can tell us that brown and black do not match. Or that white is for wearing only after Memorial Day. That is simply ridiculous. I believe the color white represents purity, and naivete, and so I believe you can wear it all year round. One of my favorite looks is taking shorts, something people label as ‘strictly summer attire’, and matching them with tights and boots.” says Pat Heelen. “Who is it that came up with these rules, and when are people going to realize they should not be followed. Fashion is expressive. ‘I dress, therefore I am’ can be further explained by saying that dressing per your own style and individual likings, makes you who you are and makes you an individual in this conformist world.”

Fashion Philosophy is a term that sparked since Pat Heelen’s latest Press Conference. Her definition of the term has caused the inception of various Fashion Blogs, and even articles in a few fashion magazines. “Pat Heelen’s speech was simply phenomenal. I am someone who conforms to the standardizations of Fashion, and usually emulate outfits in magazines and wear what ‘Fashion Guru’s’ tell me to wear. When I heard Pat Heelen’s speech, however, I realized that I was conforming into contemporary ways and becoming a product of large fashion enterprises. What I was wearing definitely didn’t define who I was. I was dressed in very ‘proper’ attire consisting of a collared shirt, blazer, and tight work pants. I even was wearing non prescription glasses to complete the look. No one could have known that I am the lead singer of a rock band. Now that I have been introduced to ‘Fashion Philosophy’, my clothes reflect who I am. I was able to intertwine my work clothes with a ‘rock edge’, and I feel more confident than ever.” says New York City Socialite and Rock Band artist Olivia Pinkerton.

More About Pat Heelen
A lover of Fashion from a very young age, Pat Heelen started her very own Styling firm called Pat Heelen Styling. She is an alumnus of Parson’s New School of Design, and has worked in Gucci and for several of New York City’s most lucrative stylists. Now, she represents many famous stylists, and has styled celebrities and members of New York City’s upper elite. She believes that fashion is expressive, and it demonstrates one’s identity. She is the creator of Fashion Philosophy, and the first of many ‘Fashion Philosophers’. Pat Heelen currently resides in uptown New York City and is in the midst of writing her own Fashion Blog and Book.