Philanthropic fashionistas take note: For those who can’t go to New York Fashion Week, Laura DiChristofano, Cathy Hutchens, Shelly Stewart and a handful of other members of the Tucson Ladies Council are bringing the runway to you.
They’re hosting The Fashion Show — A Decade — Ten Years of Giving in Style to benefit Tu Nidito Children & Family Services on Sept. 26 at Casino Del Sol Resort.
DiChristofano said the fundraiser — which has raised almost $1 million for Tu Nidito — will showcase couture, designers and supporters from the past decade. The runway show will also incorporate fashion forecasts for fall and 2016 from Tucson boutiques and hot new designers, culminating in 16 trending looks by Daniel Esquivel of the TV show “Project Runway.”
DiChristofano said the event will feature state-of-the-art lighting, staging, audio and video, providing an opportunity for those who enjoy contemporary and designer style. The self-proclaimed fashionista said the event seeks to promote awareness about Tu Nidito and provide a way to give back to the community.
“I also think it helps to put Tucson on the fashion map with Daniel Esquivel and other designers from Los Angeles. It lets them know that we do care about fashion and that Tucson is a fashionable city, so it can only help us to bring better retail and design here. We have people in Tucson who want high-end fashion, not just in Phoenix,” said DiChristofano.
The event will offer a red carpet arrival complete with photographers and live and silent auctions of more than 100 items. Prior to the high-fashion segment, which features runway seating, the show commences with the traditional Tu Nidito children’s runway walk, featuring fashions modeled by local celebrities and children who have utilized Tu Nidito services.
“These children have suffered a loss in their family or they are going through illness themselves and to have a night to shine on the runway, where they get to model with local celebrities, is so special. The children’s runway walk really tugs at the heartstrings for our guests and that is why we do the show in the first place: To raise money for these children and their families,” DiChristofano said.
Tu Nidito, which was founded in 1994, is on a mission to create a community of acceptance, support and understanding regarding children in grief.
The nonprofit supported 840 children and 525 adults last year through 12 programs, which range from age-specific grief support targeted to children, teens, young adults and family members to support for children of parents diagnosed with a serious illness and support for children diagnosed with serious medical conditions along with their siblings and families. Offerings include Memory Beads, in which individuals or families honor a loved one by creating a necklace, and Camp Erin, a weekend camp for grieving children.
New projects include Nests in Your Neighborhood, which offers support groups in northwest Tucson and Vail and on location at four clubhouses through the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson.
Ciara Garcia, Tu Nidito chief of operations, said programs such as Nests in Your Neighborhood are the result of the organization’s ongoing reevaluation of services in order to best impact the community; she credits a force of more than 370 volunteers for making the myriad programs possible.
“We are the only agency in Southern Arizona that provides these kinds of services. We recognized there are children in Tucson and outlying areas that were unable to access our agency for support and since our vision is that ‘no child grieves alone,’ we had to think about how to make that vision a reality. Nests in Your Neighborhood is an opportunity to make sure that kids have more access to our services,” Garcia said.
Dasha Ross, Tu Nidito development and event manager, emphasized that a key element to the organization’s continued growth is the education that occurs when families access services.
“The unexpected happens to every family and not everyone knows how to react,” Ross said. “When you have an organization that is built with the understanding that when people get together and know exactly what to say and how to help at those times, then lives are changed in a good way. It has a ripple effect.”
