For more than 60 young models, last Sunday was an opportunity to show off some warm-weather fashion while helping raise money for a local charity.
The Little Angels' Fashion Show was the main event at a $100-per-ticket fundraiser for the Angel Charity for Children, a local non-profit organization in its 26th year. It raises money for various charities in the Tucson area.
In its second year, the Little Angels' Fashion Show featured models ranging in age from 4 to teenagers, said Adaline Klemmedson, the vice chairwoman of Angel Charity for Children.
She said 386 people attended the fashion show, which was held at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive.
The fashion show is one of many fundraisers Angel Charity for Children has throughout the year to raise a little more than $803,000 for three beneficiaries, Klemmedson said.
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The three organizations receiving money raised from the charity this year are the Southern Arizona Children's Advocacy Center, the Community Food Bank's Snak Paks for Kids program, and the Child Language Center Wings on Words preschool.
In addition to the fashion show, which was themed "Children Helping Children," there was a raffle with seven prizes, ranging from UA basketball tickets and a full-size swing to four day passes to Sea World San Diego, as well as hotel vouchers and airline tickets.
As the party got under way, one model, Gabriela Bonicichi, waited nervously backstage. It was her first fashion show as a model, and for her it was a dream come true.
Bonicichi, 16, has been recovering from a series of operations to remove a benign brain tumor.
Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona, Bonicichi was able to participate in last Sunday's fashion show, as well as fly to New York City last year and be photographed by Nigel Barker, a fashion photographer who is also a judge on the TV show "America's Next Top Model."
"It's my first time on the runway," she said with a big grin as she waited backstage. "I'm really nervous and excited at the same time."
"I'm afraid I'm going to trip or something," she said.
When her name was called, Bonicichi strode confidently down the runway to thunderous applause, without a hitch.
