The Brazil Foundation Miami Gala Looked Like Fun

The Brazil Foundation sorts through stacks of grant proposals from small non-profit groups and “civil society organizations” in order to save the people of Brazil. Once the best of the best are selected, those charities then receive giant bags of money and are charged with doing whatever it is they do. Over the past decade, the foundation has raised more than $17 million for 95 organizations and everyone feels so great about themselves that they throw a big party. But it’s a lot fancier than that so they call it a gala.

This year’s Brazil Foundation Gala was held on Tuesday at the Vizcaya Museum in Miami, and donors and guests paid as much as $150,000 to attend and rub elbows with other rich people who feel great about themselves. But even if you just want to hang out, have a few cocktails and eat whatever chicken with sauce that they’re serving for dinner, you have to pay $1,000 for a ticket.

So how do you get people to show up to this thing and regularly fork over six-figure checks to keep babies from joining drug gangs and killing each other? You invite Brazilian supermodels like Adriana Lima and Raica Oliveira to arrive with their bits and pieces hanging out, and for good measure you also bring along Miss Brazil 2008 Natalia Anderle and German model Melanie Ribbe. I know that last one sounds strange, but Germans always feel comfortable around Brazilians.

(Photo Credits: Eyeworks Production/WENN.com)