VERO BEACH — Early holiday shoppers made a beeline to the Sun Jet Center hangar Wednesday night, coming out in droves for the Hibiscus Children’s Center’s Girls Night Out extravaganza. Close to 650 women showed up for the annual boutique shopping event which was moved to the larger venue this year due to its increasing popularity.
“Can you believe this place?” exclaimed an elated Carole Casey, who co-chaired the event with Sue Sharpe and Linda Teetz. “When I got here at quarter to eight this morning there were five planes in this hangar!”
Generally functionally austere, the hangar was now festooned with pink, white and black balloons, artfully arranged by Pat Stelz, the Balloon Lady, and multiple aisles had been set up, chockfull of vendor tables.
“Vero Beach is incredible. This is just another demonstration of how the Vero Beach community supports its own,” said a dapper, pink bow-tied Don Casey.
The ladies on the committee had enlisted their always supportive husbands to help out at the event. Many served as bartenders and Casey was selling arm lengths of raffle tickets. Each vendor donated a prize for drawings at the end of the evening.
“Is this awesome or what?” asked Sue Sharpe. “It really took the effort of all the Guild members; it was months in the planning. We’re so appreciative of all the people at Sun Jet Center. And our food vendors have been beyond generous. It’s just been a fabulous night for women to come out and socialize, shop and have a glass of wine.”
More than 50 vendors participated, offering tons of jewelry, fashions and accessories, makeup and spa treatments, interior design and home decorations, and a variety of gift items. Merchants had paid a flat nominal table fee to help pay for cleanup costs, but kept all proceeds from sales
The larger venue also enabled a greatly increased number of food vendors. The whole center aisle overflowed with restaurants and specialty shops offering quite literally everything from soup to nuts.
Kathy Riegger, the manager of food services at Saint Edward’s School orchestrated the food layout once again, and helped with the flow of foodstuffs. Culinary Capers even had wait staff wandering through the crowd all night, offering passed hors d’oeuvres.
“I never thought this many people would come out here for three hours of shopping,” said long-time Hibiscus supporter Helen Robinson. “And the committee – kudos to them for doing such an outstanding job.”
“It has turned into quite an extravaganza,” said Gretchen Cover, who co-chaired the first Girls Night Out with Carole Casey. “We wanted to have a friend-raiser and do something to thank the businesses who generously give us auction items for all the various Hibiscus events.”
Providing entertainment for the evening was Brian Barnett, a 15 year old student at Saint Edward’s and founder of Florida Pro DJs.
And, while Hibiscus events are always top-notch, the focus is never far from the children they serve. One young man helping out at the event will soon turn 18 (his name cannot be mentioned until then) and will age out of the system. When he does, he already has a job cooking for the Hibiscus Children’s Center Pre-School.
“He made the chicken salad sandwiches himself,” said Carole Casey. “We bought him the supplies, and he was allowed to work in the kitchen. He’s so proud to be here.”
“We have 15 children in the village who have jobs,” said Jan Harrell. “These kids get dressed in proper attire and go off to their jobs.”
The teens, ages 15 to 17, are enrolled in the Career Pathways to Independence program, which was made possible through an April, 2011 Impact 100 transformational grant. The program teaches them essential life skills to use when they age out, whereas in the past they would often return to a problem environment.
“This is one of the best things that ever happened to Hibiscus,” said Tom Maher, Hibiscus Children’s Center CEO.
