Sneakers Ball | Join the Impact - Attend Sneakers Ball — The Blended Family Foundation

Sole Couture 2026 is The Blended Family Foundation's marquee event—a celebration of ten years of transformation and the launch of our second decade. On November 8th, we're gathering at the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art to fund real change for K-12 students who need it most.

Art Opens Hearts. Partnership Opens Doors.

Event poster featuring colorful paint splashes and tropical leaves, advertising the Sol Couture Sneaker Ball on November 8, 2026, at 4:00 PM at the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art in Lakeland, FL, celebrating 10 years of service by The Blended Family Foundation.

Why Sole Couture Matters

This November, The Blended Family Foundation is hosting our flagship event—a celebration of art, community, and the kind of change that sticks. Over twelve months, proceeds from Sole Couture will directly fund respite retreats, subsidized therapy access, capacity-building experiences, and emergency support for students navigating real challenges.

We don't do surface-level. Every partnership, every attendee, every dollar gets translated into measurable impact. You're not just coming to a gala. You're investing in the actual infrastructure that helps K-12 students recover, grow, and thrive.

CALLING ALL ARTISTS: YOUR CANVAS JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT MORE SOLE.

The Sole Couture Sneaker Ball Art Auction is officially calling for artists and we’re looking for work that makes people stop, feel, think…and BID!

Youth and adult artists are invited to create an original piece inspired by one of five themes:

FOUNDATIONS — What helped build you?
JOY — What does joy look like when you can finally feel it?
CAPACITY — What becomes possible when you discover what you can carry, create or become?
RECOVERY — What does rising after adversity look like?
SNEAKERS — Where have your shoes taken you and what did it take to get there?

Selected artwork will be exhibited and auctioned during Sole Couture, celebrating 10 years of The Blended Family Foundation and helping fund experiences and resources for Polk County K–12 students.

This is more than a celebratory fundraiser.

Your art becomes the conversation.
And the auction turns that conversation into impact.

Artists, this is your invitation.

Bring us the piece only YOU could create.

CREATE IT. EXHIBIT IT. AUCTION IT = IMPACT ON DISPLAY.

Sole Couture Artist Application

Have Something to Give Beyond a Check?

We’re always looking for businesses, artists, creators, and community members who want to support Sole Couture Sneaker Ball through an in-kind donation.

Donate an auction item, product, service, experience, event supply, or another contribution that can help make this event possible and raise funds for the work of The Blended Family Foundation.

Your generosity doesn’t have to be cash to create impact!

Sneakers Ball 2021

A man in a black suit stands on a red carpet with red velvet ropes on either side, smiling and posing for the camera outside. He wears a white shirt, white sneakers, a gold watch, and a pocket square, with palm trees and parked cars in the background

A smiling man with a beard and a woman with long dark hair pose on a red carpet outside, with a parking lot and green trees in the background.

A woman in a long black dress and large statement jewelry, standing on a red carpet outside a building with a parking lot and trees in the background.

A woman in a black dress and colorful sneakers standing on a red carpet outdoors.

A woman in a white lace dress stands on a red carpet outside, smiling with her hands on her hips. There are red velvet ropes on either side of the carpet. In the background, there are trees, cars, and a parking lot.

Woman in pink sequin dress standing on a red carpet outside, smiling, with cars and greenery in the background.

Woman standing on a red carpet outdoors, smiling and posing with her hand on her hip, surrounded by stanchions and red velvet ropes, with trees and parked cars in the background.

Woman standing on a red carpet outdoors, wearing a patterned dress, sneakers, and holding a clutch purse, with a parking lot and trees in the background.

Two women standing on a red carpet outdoors, smiling at the camera. One woman is wearing a black dress with a large chain necklace and holding a small black purse. The other woman is dressed in a white outfit with a ruffled top and is wearing blue hi

A woman walking on a red carpet outside, smiling, holding a clutch purse, wearing a purple off-shoulder dress and purple sneakers.