Attendees will be able to sip tea at a beautifully decorated table while they watch a fashion show with handpicked outfits from the Shop on the Corner thrift store.

Jeff Favorite of the Hill Stompers and auctioneer fame will be the emcee.

A silent auction of donated gifts will be held during the afternoon and the modeled fashions will also be available for sale.

Nancy Coombs, who is a member of the House of Hope team, said of the fundraising event, “It is really a fun experience. We set the tables with china teapots and plates and serve tea sandwiches, sweets and other goodies.” Over the years, the group has collected enough china and teapots that all of the tables are bedecked with the essentials of a high tea.

Continuing the tradition of savory and sweet selections, the delicious menu will feature locally grown items as well as copious amounts of tea. Gluten free options will be available.

The tea and fashion show will be a fun event for mothers, daughters and grandmothers, but, of course, men are welcome to join the festivities, too.

The afternoon’s festivities will benefit the House of Hope building team and its house-building mission work in Mexico, as well as showing off the fashions from The Shop on the Corner thrift store.

Coombs explained that House of Hope started as a group of women that became interested in building homes in Mexico as mission work. They formed the House of Hope and their first trip to Mexico was in 2005.

The group consisted mainly of women from the Trinity on the Hill church, but other local women joined, too.

Not too long after that, a coed group was formed called the “Trinity Builders.”

According to Coombs, it costs about $10,000 to build a home from the slab up and that not only includes the building materials, but also pays for a local construction crew that prepares all the material ahead of time.

Employing a permanent, local crew that preps all the lumber is just one unique way Missions Ministry, the organization House of Hope works with, makes a genuine connection with the people in the community.

The pre-prepared lumber is almost like a home kit, which allows House of Hope to do everything in only a day and a half, an amazingly short amount of time.

In addition, the simplicity of pre-cut materials allows the group to include people with various construction experience, even teenagers and children can help.

Another House of Hope crewmember, George Marsden, will be helping with the kitchen crew and is also a model for the fashion show on Saturday. Marsden’s first trip with the home building group was in 2010, but his wife, Chandra, has been involved almost since its inception.

Marsden explained that they work within a community on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez and many of the families there are recent immigrants from indigenous populations within the interior Mexico.

“The homes are for needy families who really would have no other way to actually own their own home.”

For example, the most recent home built by House of Hope was for an indigenous family of seven from Oaxaca that were crammed in a 12 foot by 12 foot pallet shack with a dirt floor that turned to mud when it rained. Not only were they struggling to support themselves, but they were also sending money home to relatives back in Oaxaca.

The parents worked as street vendors, selling trinkets and gifts in order to send their teenagers to high school and creating a new life for their family.

“This was that chance to give them a secure, safe home,” said Marsden, “and give them a foundation to support their family as their family grows.”

Marsden described the mission trip as an “amazing experience” and said it was a chance to help people who would not have the opportunity to own a home otherwise.

The experience is also an opportunity for crewmembers to find deeper meaning in their faith. “For me, it’s that chance to take my faith and not just talk about it, but to actually walk it and live it,” said Marsden. “This is a life changing thing.”

All are welcome to join House of Hope and their next trip to Ciudad Juarez will be sometime in late winter or early spring of next year.

According to Marsden, the tea and fashion show is their biggest fundraiser and the rest of the funds come through individual donations.Read more at:short formal dresses | plus size formal dresses