By JULIA LeDOUX Media General News Service Published: March 19, 2009 QUANTICO â€" Six-year old Ryan Rosetta clasped his sister Citrate hand, flashed a smile, squared his shoulder and sailed down the runway like a professional model Sunday during a spring fashion show sponsor by Operation Home front and Lincoln Family Housing at Quantico Family Center. â€I had to bribe her with M & M’s,†laughed the children’s mother Karin Tanner as she embrace her daughter Carie Tanner, 2, following her debut on the catwalk. Karin Tanner’s husband, Sgt. Devin Tanner, enjoyed watching the show. â€This is nice,†he said. â€It was worth all the work.†Ryan, who wore a black tuxedo and red boutonniere, and Carie, who wore a sleeveless pink gown, were among the dozens of service members’ children, ranging in age from infants to teens, who model the season’s latest styles in the show. Parents and volunteers helped style the young models’ hair and get them into their new clothes prior to the show. â€They’re absolutely adorable,†said Vivian Dietrich, who heads up the D.C. metro chapter of Operation Home front, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance and morale programs to military families. The models and other girls attending the show each received two dresses of their choice to take home. â€This is their day that they’re getting dressed up, and being able to walk down the runway and show off their new spring fashions,†added Dietrich. Operation Home front received a large donation of brand-new spring dresses from Kids in Distressed Situations, or K.I.D.S., which brings together manufacturers and retailers in a partnership with its network of more than a thousand social service agencies. â€K.I.D.S. has thousands of contributors that donate items from toys to school supplies and in this case spring dresses,†said Dietrich. â€So, we said what better way to celebrate with our military families than to have a free dress giveaway and a chance to model in front of their moms and dads?†The Quantico fashion show was the first of three such events planned for the greater Washington, D.C. area. The second will be held in Annapolis on Saturday and the third is in Indian head, Md. on March 28. To volunteer with the D.C. Chapter of Operation Home front, call (703) 421-9033 or visit operation home front.net.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
