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Designer Showcase Group Hears Struggles, Triumphs

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Contributed by: David Vaina on 10/26/2009

The committee for the 2010 Designer Showcase House event to benefit the Children's Home Society of the Treasure Coast (CHS) met at the Cashel Estate on October 6 and heard from two young women who have overcome extraordinary circumstances with support from CHS.

"I can tell you a story that will blow your mind," said Gabriella, who was the first of the two young women to speak to the committee. Gabriella's mother suffered from a crack addiction and abandoned her on a doorstep when she was just a baby. But with assistance from CHS, Gabriella, 19, has already achieved considerable success, having obtained a high school diploma and enrolling at a local university. And she continues to prosper even as she raises her very young baby.

Misty, also 19, has been in and out of foster care since she was seven years old. Most of her childhood was spent seeking ways to reunite she and her brothers, who were placed in separate foster homes. CHS has helped her get back in school and--most critically for Misty--reunited her with her brothers.

"These are good kids that are going to become good citizens," said Judy Weber, CHS Board Co-Chair & Designer Showcase House Co-Chair.

The Cashel Estate, a colonial style mansion situated on the banks of the St. Lucie River in Stuart, is the site of the 2010 Designer Showcase House. The 9,513 square-foot estate was designed in 1922 by Horace Trumbauer, who also created the chapel at Duke University and other celebrated structures.

Nineteen designers will each take a room in the estate and decorate it in a style consistent with the house's architecture. Tours of the estate will take place from March 6 through March 21 and a special preview party will be held on March 5. All proceeds from the Designer Showcase House tours will benefit CHS's Transitional Living Program, which targets young adults who have aged out of the traditional foster care system.

Established in 2004, the Transitional Living Program provides young adults 18 to 23 with career skills, job placement, college assistance, independent living skills, mentoring, and health care and medical care services. The program's primary objective is to enable young adults to become self-sufficient members of the Treasure Coast community. According to Lawrence Brooks, the executive director of CHS, young adults 18 to 23 years old are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population in the United States.

For more information on the Designer Showcase House tours, please contact Eileen Morris at 772.919.1643 or Judy Weber at 772.486.6814.

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