Children’s fashion show fundraiser to return
Proceeds to help Webb House restoration
As the work to restore the John Lee Webb House continues, supporters of the project are once again turning to the world of fashion to raise funds to keep the progress going.
“Welcome to Royalty,” a children’s fashion show, will be held Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. at Tower of Strength Ministries (formerly the Vapors) 315 Park Ave., by the Uzuri Project Youth Institute, working with friends from the community.
All proceeds from the show will go to the “Save the John Lee Webb House” fund, which also has a GoFundMe page at http://www.gofundme.com/ Savethejohnleewebbhouse. As of Friday, the page had raised $76,025 toward a goal of $300,000.
Organizers held a benefit fashion show, “RIP the PHOEBE Runway,” last April. For the second year in a row, Teressa Nicole Nevels, a Hot Springs native, boutique owner, and fashion maven, will “lead the models into another level of the modeling profession,” said Cheryl Batts, president and founder of P.H.O.E.B.E. (People Helping Others Excel by Example), which is spearheading the effort to restore the Webb house at 403 Pleasant St.
“The African/Caribbean flare, with head wraps, smiles and Afro-centric makeup to match will keep you on the edge of your seats,” Batts said, noting, “Nevels’ passion for the young people is outmatched only by her passion for God.”
Nevels was recently named as one of the young “Trailblazers” by the Webb Community Center for volunteering in the community, and “certainly she has a keen interest in African American history and culture,” Batts said.
“I am doing the fashion show because I have a heart for community, youth and culture,” Nevels said. “My avenue to reach the youth is through fashion. Being able to share my love for the arts with young millennials has been very rewarding.
“When I see the children’s confidence level soar and their beautiful smiles after a show, it’s triple confirmation for me that I am on the right path.”
Nevels has worked as the men’s style and selling expert for Barney’s in New York, where she assisted and worked with celebrity clientele; the stylist for Keaton Row, an online personal shopping service based in New York; the assistant for stylist Jane How and photographer Mario Sorrenti for 2012 editorial shoots for the Vogue Italia and French Vogue Spring issues; and as a dresser for designers Joseph Domingo and Deborah Linquist during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
Working with the models again this year will be the cosmetology department of the Arkansas Career Training Institute. It will provide the makeup artists, “which will prove to be an adventure for these students who were not afraid to take the challenge,” Batts said.
Team members include Shameka Sams, Kaley Kolash, Stephanie Mendoza, Samantha Smith, Amy Singleton, Katelyn Scheu, Benny Berry, and Kianna Phillips.
Ryan A. Williams, aka DJ RAW, out of central Arkansas, “will be bringing the creative acoustics sounds of Africa and the Caribbean to the fashion show floor and entertaining between changes,” a news release said. Williams has been a DJ for 10 years and most notably, he is the official DJ and host for Riverfest 2017, scheduled for June 1-4 in Little Rock.
Cora Williams Maglero Jones, a Hot Springs High School graduate, actress and comedian, who during the day works as a pharmacy compounder in Hot Springs Village, will serve as emcee for the event.
Joshua Smith, a sixth-grade orchestra student at Lakeside Middle school who plays the cello, violin and viola, and Eli Evans, a seventh-grader at Hot Springs Middle School, who sings in the HSMS choir, will also provide entertainment at the show.
The goal is to restore the former John Lee Webb home, built around 1900, into a community resource center and museum of local African-American history. The house sits in the middle of the Pleasant Street Historic District, the largest African-American historic district in Arkansas, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Webb, who opened the Woodmen of the Union Building, later remodeled into the National Baptist Hotel, was the person most associated with the district.
Batts said Thursday the restoration of the roof is nearing completion, with all replacement tiles approved, and the bid for the windows is in place.
Kwendeche, the architect on the project, was recently honored as a new Howard University Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. “This is not just a honor for Kwendeche, but certainly continues to add validity to the people who are working on the historic John Lee Webb House,” Batts said, noting, “We are extremely blessed to have him on board.”
Tickets for the show are $20 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at Tim’s Barber Shop, 300 E. Grand, or BAM’s Barber Shop, 600 Main St., Suite K, or call Batts at 624-9400 or Nevels at 619-646-6688 or email info@ theuzuriproject.org for ticket information.