Night of runway fashion to take centre stage at upcoming mental health fundraiser

The Project Grab Hold Fashion Gala is once again hosting a full-blown fashion show to raise funds for the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). 

This year’s gala event takes place Nov. 29 at The Machine Shop. 

“All the money that we raise stays in the city and goes to our local branch to fund programs that they don’t get any funding for - so their walk-in clinic, and a couple other of their small programs that they do that benefit members in the community,” said event co-producer Jillian Petingalo. 

This year’s gala will feature a silent auction, VIP dinner and live entertainment leading up to a fashion show, studio art dance performance and a concert featuring local band The Killer Hooks. 

The fashion show will see 25 volunteers model the works of five fashion designers from Toronto, Arizona and the New York area. 

Petingalo and fellow gala co-producer Natalia Kargbo have also enlisted two professional fashion photographers to shoot photos of the runway, red carpet and some behind-the-scenes content, which will then be published in the pages of i-Fashion Magazine. 

This year’s fashion show will also feature New York-based model, actor and motivational speaker Sergio Delavicci, who has made appearances in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, Law & Order SVU, and has gained modelling exposure through the cover of GQ Magazine and other publications.    

Delavicci will be volunteering his time by modelling during the gala, and tells SooToday that he hopes to inspire and motivate other models while expanding his network of people in the fashion industry.  

He also has some history with Kargbo, who is an actress-slash-model when she’s not working as a doctor at Sault Area Hospital. 

“Natalia Kargbo and I have done a few shows together in the past,” said Delavicci. “Knowing my background and what I do, she reached out to me to be a part of Project Grab Hold Fashion Gala.” 

“I’m very excited and grateful for this opportunity.” 

Last year, the volunteer-run fashion show and gala raised just under $10,000 for mental health programming locally. 

Petingalo says that the current issues surrounding substance use in the city makes the fundraising drive for CMHA programming all the more important. 

“They help people get their lives back - people that can’t get out and get appointments with doctors, because maybe they don’t have a doctor,” she said. “I know sometimes the wait time to see somebody about mental health can be months.”

“They [CMHA] offer that walk-in clinic. You can go in and sit down and talk to somebody, and I think it’s really important in the community right now.”

Tickets for the Project Grab Hold Fashion Gala can be purchased in person at the Sault Community Theatre Centre box office in the Station Mall, or online through the theatre centre website.