Say Yes to Selena’s Dress: 8-year-old auctions off her dresses online to raise money for PATH

Published 6:15 pm Friday, May 7, 2021

Selena Estrada, an 8-year-old Tyler native, was first inspired to help others during a bedtime talk with her mom, Elva Estrada.

Elva Estrada told her daughter Selena she was helping raise money for the local nonprofit PATH, also known as People Attempting to Help. She was nominated to participate in Mardi Gras in May, a fundraising event that allows business professionals who are volunteering to participate in a court.

The event helps raise money for PATH to provide the services it offers to help the community.

Elva Estrada is a single mother who has worked for Southside Bank as a commercial lender and branch manager. She’s been there for 15 years, which she said has helped her acquire community partners and friends, who got her involved in PATH.

Her friends began to tell her about volunteer opportunities. Those opportunities led her to reminisce about her younger days, when she had learning disabilities.

“I had a lot of special help. I was in a special education program. I always had a lot of assistance in that area. So with people helping me when I was younger, I always felt like it was just the right thing, to give back and help,” Elva Estrada said.

Her first thought was to raise money by making lemonade, but her daughter pitched the idea to sell her dresses.

“I came home that night and I told (Selena) about it. She has this thing where she’s been selling lemonade outside of the house on Sundays and the neighbors know her and she just wanted to do something different,” Elva Estrada said. “I told her that I was raising money for people that needed food and houses and blankets and shoes, and she was like, ‘I want to help.’”

The dresses range in age from 1 to 7 years old. Most of the dresses Selena wore for her birthday parties. The outfits are all gently used and have been cleaned to look brand new.

In the PATH Mardi Gras fundraiser, the winner who raises the most money, will be named queen or king.

Elva Estrada took to Facebook to announce she and her daughter would be auctioning off each dress. The minimum starting price for a dress is $20. She said whoever offered the most money would walk away with a beautiful dress and a donation to PATH.

A total of 25 people viewed Selena Estrada’s live video that was posted to Facebook Tuesday. The live video featured the mother-daughter duo showing off the dresses. The official auction will be held 8 p.m. Friday on Elva Estrada’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/elva.estrada.12 .

“I think generosity and kindness and being genuine, goes a long way. So many people have been genuine to me in my darkest days and people, simply by showing kindness, helped me get out of the dark area that I was at in one point in my life,” Elva Estrada said.

All donations from Selena’s auction will go toward PATH’s housing division, the pantry and anything related to housing and rent assistance.

Selena Estrada said she got some of her dresses from Dillard’s, and that she picked all of them.

“I picked all of them to donate them because they were all beautiful and they were all different kinds of my size and they were so beautiful,” Selena Estrada said.

She said she wanted to donate the dresses to be nice to people, get them food, help find a bed, clothing and help them be happy.

Selena Estrada, an only child and not used to sharing, said she’s enjoying the fact she is helping raise money for PATH. She said the act of giving brings her happiness.

“It’s simple. I just want to be kind to others,” Selena Estrada said.

She said it was something she learned from her mother, who is kind and has given away things to her friends and the community.

Selena Estrada’s favorite school subjects are science and social studies and she enjoys singing Selena Quintanilla songs. She said she is going to go to “America’s Got Talent” someday. She also reads and writes in Spanish.

She hopes to continue giving out more of her dresses as she grows out of them to help others within the community.

“I’m just so thankful for the support and being able to represent the path is just a big deal. I’m just thankful for the opportunity,” Elva Estrada said.

The fundraiser for the Mardi Gras in May event will conclude at ETX Brewing Co. at a come-and-go event at 6:15 p.m. next Tuesday, May 11. Mardi Gras outfits are encouraged.