DREAMING BIG—La Reina High School junior Gabriella Brignardello, 16, is raising money to build a school for impoverished children in Lima, Peru with her nonprofit, Mi Casa de Angeles. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers When she was 9 years old, Gabriella Brignardello left Christmas Eve Mass in Lima, Peru, and met two little girls who asked her for money.

“I still remember their faces,” Gabriella said. “ I broke down. I didn’t understand how it was so unfair. I was going to have Christmas dinner and open presents.”

Now a junior at La Reina High School, Gabriella said the experience set the course for a life-changing decision.

“It planted a seed. I thought, what can I do to help the kids? Do I give them money? Do I give them clothes?”

Instead, she decided to build them a school in an impoverished area of Lima, her father’s birthplace.

“Education brought me to where I am. That would be something profound if I could give them education,” said the 16-year-old, whose mother is from England.

In 2009, about five years after her encounter with the young girls, Gabriella started the nonprofit Mi Casa de Angeles with the help of her father. In 2010, the foundation, which translates to My House of Angels, was granted legal nonprofit status.

Since then, the Thousand Oaks resident has raised more than $25,000 through her organization. She’s held garage sales and hosted movie nights for her cause, and she sells handpainted canvas shoes for $29 through a retail line she created called 1Step.

A group of teens in the community, all friends of Gabriella, meet monthly to plan fundraisers and help collect donations at their own schools.

“They’re passionate about helping a cause like this. They’re really excited because they’re given the opportunity to fundraise,” the teenager said.

Shannon Reiffen, a junior at Westlake High School, said she was honored when Gabriella asked her to support the charity’s educational goals.

“I think education is so important. I take education very seriously.” Shannon, 17, said. “Education is power.

“In giving these kids an education, we could be fostering . . . the (person) who is going to cure cancer. (We want to) give these kids an opportunity to shine,” she said.

On June 18, Gabriella and her team will host a fashion show fundraiser at Lakeview Corporate Center in Westlake Village across from the high school. Thirty models from area schools, including Sycamore Canyon K- 8, Colina Middle School, Pinecrest, and Westlake and Newbury Park high schools, are set to put on a show for about 400 guests.

The group is also planning a dance-athon, a beach volleyball tournament and a drive-in movie to raise funds this summer.

Gabriella will visit Lima this month to finalize plans for construction of the school, which is expected to cost between $200,000 and $500,000. Operational costs are not yet known.

“I’m going to continue to build relationships and raise awareness in private schools (in Lima),” she said.

Gabriella’s goal is to open the school to first-graders by 2014, with plans to add an additional grade level every year. At the end of a 10-year process, she hopes to serve up to 1,000 students in elementary through high school.

About eight of 10 teachers in Peru are have trouble reading, Gabriella said, so teachers at the school will receive training.

A 43-year-old charter school in Lima will guide the project’s development and may help operate the school to provide local oversight, she said.

When she starts applying to colleges next year, Gabriella will look at universities—Stanford and USC among them—with strong community service programs.

“My foundation will come with me to college,” she said.

She also hopes to make a difference in the lives of the people she draws to her cause.

“(I want to) help others find something they’re passionate about,” Gabriella said.