Category Archives: Fundraising

The Inaugural “Holiday Wish” Coloring Contest

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P.S. 73 Winner Bernie Marte with his 4th grade teacher Ms. Reynoso

I’ve been very lucky to not only intern in the CFK office, but to oversee our Brooklyn Tech tutoring program at partner school P.S. 243 in Crown Heights. Brooklyn Tech’s Change Club travels to the Weeksville School every Thursday to provide homework help to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I get the pleasure of working specifically with a vibrant bunch of 3rd graders and their tutors.

One of my favorite Thursdays was spent helping them visualize and draw their “Holiday Wish.” This season, CFK created a festival coloring contest – the winning image from each school would be featured on our inaugural holiday cards. When I told my students that they would get to draw during their tutoring session, I was met with great enthusiasm.

P.S. 243 Purple Snow-girl

I had great fun observing the students eagerly brainstorming with their tutors. I circled the tables, landing first at Angel’s table. He proudly reviewed his masterpiece with me, “This is my family at our Christmas meal, and that’s my grandpa. I have a big Dominican family.” Over at Nubia and Maya’s table, the best friends were also drawing family scenes, along with elaborate holiday presents. At Anthony and Elvin’s table, they were having their own coloring contest of who could draw the better picture. While Anthony drew a towering electric blue building, Elvin was drawing an impressive Christmas tree with Santa approaching in his sleigh. I spy an artist in the making here. Finally, my personal favorite was Elena’s drawing of a “Purple Snow-girl.” So I have to admit I’m a bit partial to purple, it’s my favorite color. But regardless, who doesn’t like a nice twist on a classic holiday character? As always, I left P.S. 243 with a smile that day.

The holiday coloring contest was an excellent way to begin the new season at our schools. I hope all the kids had as much fun participating as the office did in going through the entries. It was a great way to see quick snapshots of the students through their holiday wishes and their artistic talents. Congratulations to all the winners. Pick up your pack today!—100% of proceeds benefit our programs.

HOLIDAY CARD WINNERS

P.S. 243 Artist: Brittany Kennedy, Ms. Davis’ 4th Grade, Age 8
P.S. 15 Artist: Steven Ponce, Mr. Laliberte’s 3rd Grade, Age 8
P.S. 73 Artist: Bernie Marte, Ms. Reynoso’s 4th Grade, Age 10
P.S. 81 Artist: Rogelio Vargas, Ms. Fraser’s 2nd Grade, Age 7
P.S. 160 Artist: Sharon Sukhu, Ms. Reill’s 4th Grade, Age 10

The Penguin Party Sells Out: 27 Hours, 500 Tickets, 1 Incredible Cause

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I have very recently become hooked on TLC’s non-award winning series, Toddlers & Tiaras. My overall impression of the show’s subjects is that they’re all off their rockers; but after watching enough episodes, I have come to realize that the pageant moms and their children are mainly acting on one of life’s simple truths: everyone likes to dress up and look good.

CFK Penguin Party FundraiserThis could not have been more evident than when The Penguin Party, CFK Junior Council’s inaugural black tie event, sold out in 27 hours. On Friday, February 24th, 500 young, affluent professionals and budding NYC socialites will gather together at the Bowery Hotel to support two CFK partner elementary schools – P.S. 243 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and P.S. 73 in the South Bronx.  We are so grateful for the evening’s sponsors: Jefferson’s Bourbon, Sugarleaf Vineyards, and Andrew Kaftan Photography.

If you were lucky enough to snag a ticket to this season’s most exclusive gathering and are in need of dapper suit, you might also want to check out what our good friends over at Alton Lane are up to. They’re supporting CFK with generous donations for the entire month of February. If you’ve been waiting for the perfect excuse to splurge on a little formal wear, you have it. Just mention the code “Change” during your appointment, and they’ll send $100 our way.

In terms of ticket sales The Penguin Party is by far the most successful event our Junior Council has thrown to date, even with a ticket price close to triple digits. The evening will feature a full open bar, live music by the East Coast Band, and tons of dancing. Junior Council Co-Chair, Andrew Maxwell, states, “I am excited about the overwhelmingly positive response we’ve received to The Penguin Party. I think it’ll be a fun night filled with philanthropy and friends, and it will serve as an awesome introduction to the organization for those first-time CFK- event attendees. We could potentially recruit some great new members to serve on the Junior Council.”

We’re looking forward to partying with the penguins!  Thank you to our generous sponsors:



Santa Crawl 2011: It’s all for the kids!

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Santa Crawl 2011

If you were wandering around lower Manhattan last Saturday looking for holiday gifts, you may have instead found holiday cheer – in the form of 40 strapping, young Santas caroling and merry-making their way through New York City.  Santa Crawl is an annual all-male bar crawl that requires participants to sport the quintessential suit, hat, and white beard all day long; and this year, the guys teamed up with Change for Kids to raise funds for our four partner elementary schools.

CFK caught up with Junior Council Co-Chair Andrew Maxwell (who, we have to admit, looks dashing in red) to recap the day’s festivities.

Q: Why did you participate in this year’s Santa Crawl?

A: What better way to enjoy the holidays than dressed in a Santa costume, singing “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” while going from bar to bar with a bunch of your friends?  Add that to the fact that we were raising funds for CFK, and there was no way I was going to miss it.
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Bowl for Kids 2011: It’s a Wrap

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After the liquor bottles were all put away, after the silent auction items went to good homes, after the CFK staff finally managed to sneak in a full night’s rest, we counted up the total income from this year’s Bowl for Kids…$188,232. 

Clink through to check out the official Bowl for Kids slideshow

Which is about $41,000 more than we were able to pull in for Bowl for Kids 2010. Woohoo! Applause, applause! If you celebrated with a few too many Trips to the Principal’s Office (our signature Tom Collins, remember??), you can relive all your half-hazy memories by checking out the photos here. Most importantly, though, you should know that it’s not just our amazing student musicians who benefit from this event every year. Every single one of our programs is in the midst of expansion right now, and it’s because of people like you that our students will continue to receive the kinds of programs that foster creativity and confidence to achieve.
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Slam Dunk Auction Items

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Get excited for Bowl for Kids next week – not only will it be a slamming party, but it will also be the only place in the city with this kind of loot. Take a look at a roundup of our favorites, and then purchase your tickets here.
 

 
SIGNED 1994 ALL-STAR BASKETBALL Remember 1994? Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, Scotty Pippen, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon…an utterly ridiculous lineup, all in one place again.
 
 


 
GOLF AT MAIDSTONE IN EAST HAMPTON Golf, caddies, and lunch for three at the exclusive Maidstone Club in the Hamptons. Retail value: $1,000

 
 
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Mmm…The Smell of School Supplies in the Morning

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Backpacks and paper, and pencils, oh my! Over the past several months the Change for Kids office has received numerous cardboard boxes filled to the brim with school supplies. CFK staff members and interns can barely find a foothold amidst all the goodies: everything from cool new backpacks from GfK North America to personalized children’s books from our good friends at WNS. These basic classroom necessities – still with their tags and all their caps – recall the beginning of Change for Kids while hinting at its bright and exciting future.

Yay for school supplies!

CFK started in 1994 as a trust to provide school supplies to the students of P.S. 243. Since then, CFK has dramatically expanded its mission and reach, partnering with four NYC public elementary schools and supplying them with educational programs in fine arts, healthy living, and literacy. In fact, many of the donated school supplies will go to help not only  teachers, but also volunteers who support CFK programs.

The markers, sticky glue, and construction paper will help tutors in CFK’s one-on-one literacy tutoring program make reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises fun for their students. The pens and notebooks will aid CFK’s Fordham volunteers in engaging their group of 5th graders to write headlines and articles for the school newspaper. Both of these volunteer programs have seen exponential growth during the past year, with the number of participants tripling since Fall 2010.
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Kona’s Picks: This Month, Marketing Materials!

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The office was a little crowded this week (though we weren’t complaining at all – and neither was Kona) with the arrival of the long-awaited, much-discussed, guaranteed-to-make-you-smile CFK BROCHURES!

Kona in RR Donnelley Boxes

Kona gets comfy in RR Donnelley boxes

If you’ve run into any of the staff or marketing committee in the last few months, you’ve no doubt noticed the crazed look in their eyes or heard them mumbling incoherently about photo layouts and headlines. This week made every moment worth it–not only because we got to see Kona popping in and out of boxes and mountain-climbing the stacks of materials–but also because the brochures themselves turned out so beautifully.

Special thanks to the heroes that made it happen- from Luke Hayman at Pentagram for our new logo and branding, Andrij Borys and Alicia Kubista for the design and layout, Nick Koechlin at  RR Donnelley for printing all the goods and to everyone on the marketing committee. You’ll be seeing these little babies at all our events, but if you want a special, exclusive sneak peek at the layouts, you can click through the photo album below. Enjoy (we sure did)!

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DIY FUNdraising: Donate to our Silent Auction

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Jacob pauses for a backswing photo op

Even as a nationally-recognized fitness and movement educator, Kate Tempesta came to the game of golf relatively late in life. “My first thought, though,” she says, “was what a great game it was for children.”

The upshot of her discovery is the Urban Golf Academy, a workshop designed especially for children and held in eight-week sessions in Central Park. We were thrilled when she offered up two scholarships for our partner students at last year’s Bowl for Kids—and even more thrilled when a very generous Bruce Vinci donated an additional couple of spots.

“It’s just such a wonderfully textured game that teaches so many life skills,” explains Kate. “There’s the perseverance and the mental aspect of it, but it can also be very athletic. It encourages social skills. It’s a great blend, and nobody should be left out of that.”

And for P.S. 73 students Brianna, Devonte and Jacob, the eight Saturdays in the park were certainly about much more than simply learning a new game.

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DIY FUNdraising: Throw a Birthday Bash

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Every year Randa Karambelas celebrates life on this planet by throwing a giant birthday bash and giving all the proceeds to charity. This fact alone puts her at the top of our Awesome List. But when she called to let us know she had raked in more than $6,500 and would be sending the proceeds our way—well, what can we say? We just couldn’t refuse.

Randa (left) and Bankrupt Talent

Randa lives in the corporate restructuring world, but she also has a secret life as a cool musician with cool musician colleagues who have regular lives as attorneys, bankers and financial advisors. “We’re from all over – some of us had never even met before – but music is everyone’s hobby,” explains Randa. When they teamed up for this year’s birthday/charity event, they called themselves Bankrupt Talent, a name we find hilarious but not terribly accurate. Check out the end of the show and their (quite talented) rendition of Aerosmith’s Dream On here.

Interested in trying it yourself? Randa’s May 4th event at Bowery Electric included a $20 ticket price, a donations pot, silent auction and 133 attendees. But you don’t have to be a singer to make it work. “The event will be as successful as the crowd you invite makes it. I would never have been able to do this without the support of my friends, my family and the professionals coming out to do the gig. If music isn’t your thing,” she adds, “just pick something your friends and family all enjoy. And because it’s for a good cause, they’re even more likely to come out.”