RumRunners ‘Havana Nights’ collection event for Love That Dress! set for tonight
RumRunners Restaurant and PACE Center for Girls, will hold a Love That Dress!7 fundraiser at the Cape Coral venue tonight.
The event will continue its collection party fun at the upcoming “Havana Nights” collection event from 6 to 9 p.m.
The evening will include a selection of Cuban-style appetizers, cash bar featuring an event mojito with proceeds going to PACE Center for Girls, Lee, a “Fish Bowl” raffle and more.
Admission is $10 per person or free with donation of a new or “gently loved” dress, shoes, accessories or handbags. Each attendee will receive one free drink ticket with admission.
This year’s Love That Dress!7 main event will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at the Embassy Suites in Estero, at 10450 Corkscrew Commons Drive.
In the months leading up to the event, members of the Southwest Florida community are asked to donate new and “gently loved” dresses and accessories at collection parties and convenient drop-off locations across the county. Collection parties hosted by generous local businesses and organizations are a great way to connect with community members and sample the local fare, all while collecting inventory, raising funds and generating awareness for the main event.
During the main event, attendees will enjoy shopping a huge inventory of designer and brand name dresses, shoes, accessories and jewelry, a silent auction full of unique packages, and cocktails.
Suite and VIP ticket holders are granted access to early shopping, private dressing rooms, clothing holds, express check-out service, complimentary adult beverages, hors d’oeuvres and a private selection of decadent chocolates.
Miromar Outlets has donated 1,500 square feet of retail space that will serve as the main event’s “Dress Closet” for all of the new and gently loved inventory collected from the June through August collection events.
All proceeds from Love That Dress!7 will benefit the PACE Center for Girls of Lee County. PACE is a non-residential program targeting the unique needs of girls, ages 12 to 18, facing challenges such as physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, foster care, neglect, death of a parent, family history of incarceration and declining grades.
Last year, nearly 4,000 new and gently loved dresses were sold at the shopping event, raising more than $125,000 for PACE.
PACE Center for Girls is a Florida-based, nonprofit organization and the only statewide prevention program for adolescent at-risk girls in the nation.
In the past year, the Lee County program provided 116 girls with education, counseling, training and advocacy, resulting in 94 percent of girls in the program having no involvement with juvenile justice within six months of leaving PACE, 88 percent improving their academic performance and 80 percent remaining in school or obtaining employment three years after leaving PACE.
As a result, PACE reduces the significant long-term costs associated with teen pregnancy, substance use, unemployment and long-term economic dependency.
PACE accepts referrals from the juvenile justice system, the Department of Children and Families, school personnel, community-service agencies, parents, family members and friends, as well as self-referrals.
For more information about the event, call 239-470-7548, visit www.pacecenter.org/lee or search “Love That Dress, Lee” on Facebook.