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Fashion Show Benefits The PACE Center

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By JESSICA BAIR, The Suncoast News

Published: October 11, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand and others modeled outfits from an area department store as an invisible cash register rang up funding for the PACE Center for Girls.

Members of local Rotary chapters and other civic groups gathered recently for the second annual fashion show and brunch benefiting the nonprofit delinquency prevention program in New Port Richey and 20 other locations across the state.

The fundraiser at Seven Springs Golf & Country Club also included live and silent auctions for sports memorabilia, fishing trips, spa and family travel packages.

PACE board members, volunteers and local dignitaries strutted in fashions from Stein Mart in Palm Harbor.

'It's really a terrific event to raise money for the center,' said Sue Bedry, PACE special projects manager.

The PACE Center for Girls, which began in 1985, targets the individual needs of youths ages 12 to 18 who are identified as truant, runaway, ungovernable, delinquent or in need of academic skills, its Web site says.

'Our aim is to work with them and get them back into public schools,' Bedry said.

More than just an all-girls school, PACE focuses on the way girls learn, the issues they encounter and how to tackle them.

Classes have five to 10 students and provide intensive lessons in the basics such as English, reading, math, science and history, Bedry said. The teens also take elective courses in life management.

'We try to resolve whatever issue is making it hard for them to succeed in public school,' she said.

PACE girls also receive individual attention and counseling, and participate in community-service projects.

Most girls stay an average of nine months in the free year-round program, which allows those behind in high school credits to catch up over the summer.

After completing the PACE program, each girl's educational and personal progress is monitored for three years. Many re-enter the public school system and obtain their diploma or GED.

'We want to provide the tools to help them make healthy choices in life,' Bedry said.

For details on the program, visit www.pacecenter.org.

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