Cigar boxes transformed into fashionable handbags with ribbons, sequins and beads have been popping up in boutiques across the country. Now, the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless will be auctioning a few of them to provide nights of shelter for homeless men, women and children.
During a luncheon Monday at the T-U Center, Sulzbacher officials revealed plans for Transformations, an annual fundraiser that celebrates the lives changed at the Sulzbacher Center.
This year’s event includes a silent auction of cigar box handbags designed by local celebrities such as Linda Del Rio, Kim Alexis and author E.L. Konigsburg. Each purse borrows its theme from a different month of the year and is filled with items that include football tickets, restaurant gift certificates and vacation packages. Inside Del Rio’s purse is a jaguar print lining and two skybox tickets to a Jacksonville Jaguars home game. Kitty Crenshaw, wife of U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, offered a private tour of the Capitol and lunch in the Congressional dining room in her purse. And Heather Surface, director of communications for the Super Bowl Host Committee, filled her purse with game tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl in Houston, plane tickets and a backstage tour of the Super Bowl Media Center there.
Members of local businesses, civic organizations and churches will also raise money by selling $33 tickets to the Transformations event, which is scheduled for Sept. 4. Each ticket sold will provide funds for three nights of shelter at the center. The opening reception and silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m. followed by the staged performance at 7:30 p.m.
Last year’s event raised funding for over 3,200 nights of shelter.