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

Posted on January 27, 2012 by AliciaJ

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 Fundraiser This 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:

Shop for Kids with Alton Lane

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Kristin Black

Is there anything more attractive than a man in a tux?

Well, actually, yes. That would be a man in a tux who just scored $100 for a children’s charity.

Even if you weren’t able to sneak into the Penguin Party this year, you can still be the greatest date ever when you place an order through Alton Lane in the month of February. They’ll be sending $100 our way for every custom suit, tuxedo, or overcoat purchased – just mention the code “Change” during your appointment.

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

Posted on December 21, 2011 by AliciaJ

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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Face painting, All-you-can-eat hot dogs, and a Justin Bieber dance off? Sign us up!

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Sarah Stevens

Last Saturday 25 fifth grade students from P.S. 73 loaded a bus in the Bronx and landed 35 minutes later at the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Long Island City. As a reward for their hard work and excellent participation all semester in our Bronx Museum of Art and Story Pirates programs, these students were treated to a fun-filled day hosted entirely by our amazing friends at the Variety Children’s Charity.* Every year Variety throws an all day bash for all of the organizations who they work with throughout the city to celebrate the holidays, and this year we were incredibly proud and honored to join in the festivities.
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Modern Ink Feature!

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Kristin Black

We’ve been drooling for a week now over Modern Ink – a sweet new online design magazine with laid-back aesthetic and gorgeous layouts. But we have to admit our favorite thing about the publication is the five page(!) CFK feature in their winter edition. Check it out below and then head over to Modern Ink to read the rest of the issue.

Bowl for Kids 2011: It’s a Wrap

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Kristin Black

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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Community Spotlight: Meet Joshua Holmes

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Kristin Black

Meet Joshua Holmes, the Detroit native with a master’s in public administration, a love for all things sports-related, and a special fondness for NYC food culture. When he’s not on his long-standing quest to find the best burgers and beer in the city, you can find him on the sports field. Any sports field will do. “I play softball, racquetball, football, tennis, and basketball. Also golf and snowboarding. I enjoy reading, though I always fear I don’t do it enough.” Prod him a little though, and he’ll admit that his favorite books are pretty diverse – Freakonomics, all seven Harry Potters, Cornel West’s Race Matters, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I’ve also heard from a very reliable source that he’s consistently voted the best dressed at the annual UVa alumni holiday party – perhaps not so hard to believe of a guy who manages to pull off a red plaid bow tie.

Josh Homes, Best Dressed and Tutor Extroadinaire

The best thing about Joshua, however, is that he spends every Tuesday reading with two very special second graders at P.S. 243 – Rubayet and Trinity (Weird factoid of the day: two of Joshua’s aunts actually attended P.S. 243). Given the recent standards push for nonfiction reading skills, they’ve been working all fall on a slew of animal books, says Joshua. “I’ve gotten a sense of their reading level at this point, so we always start by picking something out that looks really interesting…There’ve been lots of snakes, birds, and birds’ nests,” he adds.

Whether they’re sounding out words, identifying main ideas, or separating fact from opinion, the most exciting part of the process for Joshua has been watching Rubayet and Trinity grow more confident in their reading. “Rubayet was more shy and bashful when we first met, but now sometimes I have a difficult time keeping him on task because he wants to talk about all kinds of things. Trinity is very bubbly and warm. She’s really kind of adorable – like a little cousin.”
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Volunteer Magic: Fresh Spaces, New Computers

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Kristin Black

For the last ten years, P.S. 243′s computer lab has been “under construction” – a full decade of hoping they could get together the resources to provide their students the technology education they’d need to be successful throughout school.

Baruch College volunteers in the new J.P. Morgan computer lab

Finally this summer we met the folks at nPower, a national nonprofit that brings information technology services and training to other nonprofits. When they heard about the situation at our Bedford-Stuyvesant school, they brought in long-time sponsor J.P. Morgan for a little financial muscle. JPM generously donated enough machines to stock up the entire lab, thus ending the agony of yet another year minus computer education. Last but not least, muralist Caitlin Everett and a team of Baruch College volunteers joined nPower to get things set up and pretty in the brand-spanking new lab. You heard right: nonprofit + business + education + individual volunteers = solutions. That’s just how CFK rolls. Meanwhile…

Our favorite South Bronx school was facing a dilemma. CFK’s violin instructor, Mr. Majid, could probably work miracles wherever you put his classes. But this year, the increased student population at P.S. 73 (otherwise great news) pushed Mr. Majid’s violin class into an old locker/shower room (bad news).
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Sarah’s Chalkboard: 21st Century Skills

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Sarah Stevens

Welcome to The Chalkboard, a column devoted to the ins and outs of CFK’s education programs. For the next few months, Education Director Sarah Stevens will be tackling a five-part mini-series on 21st Century Skills – a set of competencies that guide CFK’s program development. First up…Creativity!

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Our mission at CFK is to help students develop the confidence to achieve their fullest potential by offering a wide range of opportunities where they can discover their unique talents. An inquisitive brain will constantly want more, and we know developing that thirst for knowledge is the first hurdle in preventing future drop outs. We also want to be sure our students are developing the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century – Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Commitment.
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Slam Dunk Auction Items

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Kristin Black

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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Change for Kids

The official blog of NYC education nonprofit Change for Kids

Tag Archives: Change for Kids