If dressing up as your favourite celebrity, character or villain is your thing, join Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands (BBBS) this November for their inaugural gala fundraiser Cirque de KY: A BBBS Costume Affair.

Scheduled for the Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, 2 November, all are invited to don their most creative costume or haute couture and vie for the prize of best dressed.

Event sponsors are dms Broadcasting, LIME, Cayman National, Atlas Insurance Management and Jacques Scott Wines & Spirits.

“The event’s concept is a simple one, but with fun elements for our guests,” Big Brothers Big Sisters Fundraising Chair Stacy Parke noted. “Parties do not necessarily have to come in a costume. There is really a choice for guests to come in a costume or fashionably elegant with a mask.

“Masks will be provided at the door for those who need them, and of course, we’ll be on the lookout for the adventurous few who’ll go all out to make a statement with their outfit.”

For just $150 guests will be treated to a cocktail reception, dinner, entertainment, dancing and other surprises. To raise additional funds a silent auction will feature, among other exciting items, insightful pieces from local artists and the latest techie gadgets. Several autographed pieces of sports memorabilia will also be available for sports aficionados.

“We’re very excited about this year’s event and look forward to the community’s full support” Miss Parke continued, “BBBS survives solely on the generosity of the corporate community and individuals who donate their time, talent or treasures to the programme. Every dollar raised goes back to BBBS to help evaluate kids, their potential adult mentors and provide match support once a match relationship has been established.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters has been a part of the local community since the early 1980’s when Reverend Stanwyck Myles and several others saw the need for a youth mentorship programme that would have a positive effect on the lives of local children.

The organisation was launched in partnership with the Lions Club of Grand Cayman, and seeks to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that will change their lives for the better, forever.

This is achieved through their community-based mentoring; school-based mentoring and group activities programme also known as GAP.

Community-based mentoring is the traditional Big Brother Big Sister relationship where volunteers spend one-on-one time with a child each week, engaged in activities they both enjoy. The school-based programme provides an avenue for businesses to adopt classrooms and encourage their employees to become workforce and academic mentors.

The GAP or Group Activities Programme, launched during 2011, is the newest of the organisation’s initiatives. It provides monthly outings for children who are still awaiting either community- or school-based mentors.

“Beyond the money that we hope this event will raise, we’re also inviting interested individuals to volunteer,” Miss Parke continued.

“We’re always looking for persons who wish to assist with events or to volunteer as mentors. There are still more than 20 children awaiting matches and we’d love to see them placed in relationships that can help shape the course of their futures.”

For more information on BBBS’s Cirque de KY event, to volunteer or make a donation, email [email protected] or call 945-6315. Learn more about the organisation’s programmes at www.bbbs.ky or join the BBBS Facebook community at www.Facebook.com/BBBSCayman .