What began as a simple fundraiser for the eighth-grade graduation ceremony turned into a celebration of culture and the environment, as well as a gift for the members of a family struck by tragedy.

The coordinators of the fundraiser at St. Thomas the Apostle School, a Catholic school in South Miami, had decided that they wanted to make their third annual fashion show special.

The show would be held in October instead of November in order to celebrate the student body's prevalent Hispanic heritage.

They also wanted to showcase the challenge they had undertaken to become Miami's first parochial school to go green.

With that, Beatrice Balerdi, the school's dance and drama coordinator and fashion show organizer, and her 80-year-old mother began in June constructing outfits out of recyclable material for a special segment of the show.

But then in August of this year, the school lost a member of its family, 36-year-old Rodolfo Garmendia, when he pulled over to check a flat tire on the Palmetto Expressway and was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

Members of the school and the adjoining St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church wanted to help the Garmendias -- three children, a wife and his mother -- who were left behind. They saw a perfect opportunity in the annual fashion show.

``I like to think that any time anyone in our family needs love and faith, our community comes together,'' Balerdi said.

Saturday's show opened with the segment, ``From Trash to Fashion,'' which featured five teachers and 13 mothers of students modeling the outfits that had been made by Balerdi and her mother over the past four months.

There were two long, sleek dresses made out of red and blue plastic party cups, a festive dress made completely out of Target shopping bags and another dress crafted out of 200 pages of magazines, including Hola, Us and In Style.

Then came the second portion of the show, where the children of each grade paraded a train of outfits from specific Hispanic countries such as Mexico, Spain and Cuba.

But in the break between each country, the ``Trash to Fashion'' models took the stage and auctioned off their unique outfits.

The dresses made from plastic cups sold for $400 and $500, respectively.

The dress of Target bags and the magazine dress sold for $1,700 each.

A collection of seven purses woven out of plastic bags brought in $1,200.

In total, the recycled outfits raised about $12,000, and every penny was slated to go to the Garmendia family.

Most of the outfits were bought by the husbands of the models, as everyone in the crowd expected.

Laughter filled the room as others placed bids solely for the purpose of forcing the models' respective husbands to bid higher.

``These guys gave a lot of money for those dresses, and not because anyone was going to wear them,'' Balerdi said.

``But that is what everybody had in mind: benefit the family, and I think that is what made it so much fun.''

The show also raised $7,000 from ticket sales, and Wayne Carter from the office of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez presented plaques ``in recognition of the valuable contributions to our community'' to Balerdi and the school's priest, Father Daniel Kubala.

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