Today, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL) announced GRAMMY Award-winning artist, songwriter, actress, author, and philanthropist Sara Bareilles will perform at GLOBAL’s virtual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show on Saturday, November 13, 2021.
Bareilles will perform her iconic hits including “Brave” and “The Light,” and share her personal connection to our Down syndrome community.
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and current General Manager of the San Francisco 49ers John Lynch will receive the Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award alongside Peruvian advocate and politician Bryan Russell Mujica. Lynch will receive the award for his commitment to athletes who are differently-abled and for the college scholarships he’s provided to young athletes with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.
GLOBAL is offering exclusive $25 tickets that will provide an extraordinary opportunity for people from across the U.S. and the world to attend this award-winning, inspirational, and star-studded event.
An impressive list of celebrities will join GLOBAL’s guests, including Music Legend Quincy Jones, R&B couple Ronnie & Shamari DeVoe, Disney stars Debby Ryan and Miranda May, award-winning reality show host Jeff Probst, Grey’s Anatomy stars Caterina Scorsone and Eric Dane, award-winning actors John C. McGinley, Zack Gottsagen, Jamie Brewer, and Megan Bomgaars, golfer Brad Hennefer, supermodels Amanda Booth and Beverly Johnson, models Marián Ávila and Madeline Stuart, motivational speakers Tim Harris, Karen Gaffney and Frank Stephens, Denver Broncos Brandon McManus and Justin Simmons, Buffalo Bills’ Harrison Phillips, Colorado Rapids Kellyn Acosta, musician Sujeet Desai, and 9NEWS anchors Tom Green and Kim Christiansen.
Renowned journalists and anchors, Fox News correspondent John Roberts and ABC’s Kyra Phillips, will emcee the event. Twenty-six beautiful models with Down syndrome from eight states and three countries will be featured on the virtual runway. This year’s GLOBAL Ambassadors are Archie and Sevy Eicher, two siblings who were adopted from an orphanage in Bulgaria by loving parents, Lisa and Joey, and siblings, Ace and Radko. Archie is an up-and-coming fashion model who was most recently featured in Gap’s new teen line, and Sevy is an internationally recognized painter with a waiting list of over 8,000.
The Fashion Show will also pay tribute to DeOndra Dixon, the beloved sister of Jamie Foxx who tragically passed away last year. GLOBAL is honoring her memory through the DeOndra Dixon Down Syndrome Research Fund, which raises funds to address medical care and healthcare disparity outcomes for African-Americans with Down syndrome.
Despite the pandemic and a year of tragic loss within the Down syndrome community, GLOBAL has worked tirelessly to provide life-saving information and grants to the community. GLOBAL provided COVID-19 GLOBAL Emergency Relief Grants to over 200 individuals with Down syndrome and their families, and over 30,000 pieces of PPE are continuing to be delivered to those with intellectual disabilities living in group and host homes; the COVID-19 & Down Syndrome Resource, created in collaboration with a consortium of national organizations, was updated to include information on the Delta variant and boosters; and millions in NIH funding has been secured for Down syndrome research and medical care, including groundbreaking research for the Leukine trial that has advanced to the next stage with positive results in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
