FUNky Fashion Show raises big bucks for PACE
One might think that dresses made of trash and treasures wouldn’t feature fashion at its best but the recycled haute couture and $800 dress comprised of bills of various denominations pushed Wednesday’s “FUNky Fashion Show” Love That Dress! fundraiser into five figures.
The event hosted by IBERIABANK and presented by the Gunterberg Charitable Foundation at the Cape Coral Yacht Club raised $21,000 for PACE, an organization that provides academic programs and counseling services to girls and young women 11 to 18.
“The goal of these fundraisers is to make PACE as successful in the region as possible,” said Meg Geltner, the executive director for Lee County’s PACE Center for Girls, “The money goes to incredible young women who are sure to be successful leaders in the future.”
PACE Center For Girls was established in 2007 as an initiative that focused on gender specific resources for at-risk young women. It has put many, who might not have had a chance to get ahead in life, through successful work and educational training.
The fundraising occasion featured lots of local talent and fashion design that went in to preparing nine dresses made out of recycled goods – everything from Cape Coral City maps to shattered vinyl records.
“The good we can do with this kind of fundraising is really why my heart is in it,” Geltner said.
Razzle Dazzle, a clothing boutique in Cape Coral, showed its “ready to wear” fashion at the event that also featured food, signature cocktails, music and a raffle drawing.
More than 190 donated dresses also were collected at fundraiser, a component as important as the money itself.
Those dresses will sold at deeply discounted prices during Pace’s 11th annual Love That Dress! event to be held Aug. 21 at the Embassy Suites in Estero.
Dubbed “the ultimate feel-good shopping spree of the year” the event offers new and gently loved dresses, shoes, handbags, and accessories at nominal prices to benefit PACE .
For more information and tickets, visit www.lovethatdressleecounty.com .