KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

Ro­tary T&T is bring­ing back its sig­na­ture fundrais­er, Hats & Heels, for a sec­ond daz­zling edi­tion to­mor­row at the Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad. The styl­ish af­ter­noon af­fair runs from 3–6 pm (doors open at 2 pm) and co­in­cides with the In­ter­na­tion­al Day of Peace, un­der­scor­ing Ro­tary’s com­mit­ment to build­ing a more com­pas­sion­ate and in­clu­sive world.

Deb­bie Roopc­hand, im­me­di­ate past dis­trict gov­er­nor of Ro­tary Dis­trict 7030, said the date’s sig­nif­i­cance high­lights Ro­tary’s on­go­ing mis­sion of peace­build­ing through ed­u­ca­tion and com­mu­ni­ty em­pow­er­ment.

“To­day, more than 120 mil­lion peo­ple are dis­placed due to con­flict, vi­o­lence, per­se­cu­tion and hu­man-rights vi­o­la­tions—half of them chil­dren,” she not­ed.

“Ro­tary re­fus­es to ac­cept con­flict as a way of life. Through di­a­logue, train­ing, fel­low­ships and schol­ar­ships, we help com­mu­ni­ties ad­dress root caus­es such as pover­ty, dis­crim­i­na­tion and lack of ed­u­ca­tion, cre­at­ing en­vi­ron­ments where peace can tru­ly take root.

@Peace is not pas­sive; it is a de­lib­er­ate act of com­pas­sion, in­clu­sion and vi­sion. Hats & Heels 2, aligned with the In­ter­na­tion­al Day of Peace, is a beau­ti­ful re­minder that glam­our and pur­pose can walk hand in hand.”

Tick­ets are $450, of­fer­ing guests an un­for­get­table show­case of cre­ativ­i­ty, com­mu­ni­ty im­pact and high style.

Ac­cord­ing to Maria Mo­hammed-Ma­haraj, dis­trict pub­lic im­age chair of Ro­tary Dis­trict 7030, pro­ceeds from Hats & Heels 2 will sup­port The Ro­tary Foun­da­tion and Peace Build­ing: Em­pow­er­ing Youths Through Ed­u­ca­tion.

“This aligns with Ro­tary’s strong com­mit­ment to youth and ed­u­ca­tion,” she said.

“Un­der the lead­er­ship of dis­trict gov­er­nor So­raya Warn­er-Gus­tave, Dis­trict 7030 has launched The Fu­ture Em­pow­ered | Youth in Fo­cus Project, a re­gion­al flag­ship pro­gramme de­signed to up­lift young peo­ple in vul­ner­a­ble cir­cum­stances.”

The ini­tia­tive fo­cus­es on break­ing cy­cles of pover­ty and steer­ing at-risk youth away from crime by em­pha­sis­ing ed­u­ca­tion, men­tor­ship, lit­er­a­cy, skill-build­ing work­shops, vo­ca­tion­al train­ing, and ac­cess to dig­i­tal and aca­d­e­m­ic re­sources. It is cur­rent­ly over­seen by Dr Nisha Har­ry, spe­cial projects chair for vul­ner­a­ble youth.

Guests can look for­ward to run­way pre­sen­ta­tions from some of T&T’s most ex­cit­ing fash­ion hous­es and de­sign­ers, in­clud­ing Daron­té Guade­loupe, Knot Cou­ture, Kris­si’s Col­lec­tion, Ma­trix De­signs and Zadd & East­man. Lo­cal fash­ion pi­o­neer Jacque­line Koon How will di­rect the pro­duc­tion, while past dis­trict gov­er­nor Lara Quen­trall-Thomas will serve as host.

Be­yond the cat­walk, Hats & Heels 2 boasts a stel­lar en­ter­tain­ment line-up:

• Le­An­dra, the Trinida­di­an-Amer­i­can so­pra­no whose fu­sion of clas­si­cal and soul­ful styles has earned ac­claim across the Caribbean and be­yond.

• Phil Car­tar, cel­e­brat­ed mu­si­cian whose artistry tran­scends gen­res.

• Michael Phillips, 15-time na­tion­al cy­cling cham­pi­on turned singer-song­writer and record­ing artist.

Adding to the glam­our, the event will fea­ture the Glam­Bot, a ro­bot­ic high-speed cam­era fa­mous on glob­al red car­pets. Ex­clu­sive to Hats & Heels 2 pa­trons, it will cap­ture cin­e­mat­ic slow-mo­tion videos of at­ten­dees in true Hol­ly­wood style. The Glam­Bot ex­pe­ri­ence runs from 1 to 2.45 pm in the Re­gency Ball­room.

By pair­ing fash­ion and phil­an­thropy, Ro­tary T&T con­tin­ues to demon­strate how style can serve a high­er pur­pose. Hats & Heels 2 of­fers guests a chance to en­joy an af­ter­noon of high fash­ion, world-class en­ter­tain­ment and mem­o­rable ex­pe­ri­ences—all while sup­port­ing ini­tia­tives that em­pow­er youth and fos­ter peace.