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Thank you to the entire BFS community— parents, administration, staff and teachers— for supporting the 2009 Winter Festival. It was a cold and rainy day outside, but inside was warm, exciting and fun! We had a great turnout for the event and together, we raised $19,000! 80% of the proceeds will go to Horizons at BFS and 20% will go to the PAT.
Before I begin thanking the hundreds of people that made this event possible, I would like to share some of the personal reasons I truly valued being part of this event for the past two years.
I have very much enjoyed working with the school’s administrative team (Michael Nill, Karen Edelman, Emily Cowles, Joan Martin & Carla Precht) and all of the teachers that helped make this event happen as well (Dori Dietz, Roxanne Zazzaro, Angie Ungaro, Joan Rappaport, Catherine Clark and Sara Soll to name a few). What I have most appreciated is the school’s open-mindedness to new ideas and support to make those ideas happen. Who knew they would allow a 30’ skateboard ramp with flying skateboarders to be installed in the upper gym for Friendsapalooza! Working with the PAT committee (I especially worked a lot with PAT Co-Chair John Major for the past two years), and all of the parents, from fellow Preschool parents to parents of older children, has been a terrific experience. Working with the school on this event has allowed me to see the BFS mission in action, and it confirms that we made the right choice 3 years ago when we chose BFS as a school for our son.
I have dedicated my time to this event, not only because it is an event for our son Linden’s school, but because it is a fundraising event for Horizons at BFS. It is important to my husband Bill and I that our son go to a school that recognizes that there are those children that are not afforded the same opportunities as others. By participating in this event, our young son is learning an invaluable lesson - that his family and school believe in the importance of helping others. On a very personal note, I would like to dedicate my efforts working on this event to a teacher and friend— Mary Degnan. Mary taught at the roughest schools on the South Side of Chicago and at one of the most privileged schools on Chicago’s North Shore. She would very much have believed in the Horizons program.
I would like to begin by thanking the 2009 BFS Winter Festival Committee, which was comprised of 30 parents and BFS administrators. Thanks to the BFS administration: KAREN EDELMAN for her continuous help for the past two years on everything from event structure & planning, to editing text documents to pitching in on the day of the Festival. It has been a pleasure working with her and seeing her great ideas & quick thinking in action. EMILY COWLES was a huge support for the entire committee this year, helping with documents, volunteers and chipping in when needed. Many thanks. JOAN MARTIN as usual helped get the word out, procured banners, pro-bono printing, programs for the event and personally printed up a storm. CARLA PRECHT got the ball rolling for fundraising with the Horizons Board and she herself secured a large donation to support the event. MIKE PELLECHIO was a huge help in organizing and implementing all the comings and goings necessary for hosting such a large event in the building. MICHAEL NILL was instrumental in listening to our ideas for the event, offering excellent suggestions and ideas when needed, and giving approval to the overall plan. Michael has always been a pleasure to work with.
Heartfelt thanks go out to the PAT members of our committee. For all of the time they volunteered to the event, all the meetings they attended and for switching hats when needed!
CO-CHAIRS: US Co-Chair JOHN MAJOR has worked on this event for the past two years with me. He was there whenever something was needed from a great idea to helping haul tables around the building. He has always been a main support behind the event and a huge help. I have very much enjoyed working with him. This year John was one of the driving forces behind Friendsapalooza, wanting the HS students know they are valued members of the BFS community. MS Co-Chair JOANNE CASEY helped organize and implement Photo Taking and Frame Making and help with mailings and saved the day by picking up printing inks! LS Co-Chair SALOME GALIB was responsible for the great idea and implementation of the Spanish Reading room, new to this year’s Winter Festival. Salome also pitched in at every turn, from organizing mailings to lobby table recruiting. PS CO-Chair DARA SICHERMAN organized all of the craft activities for the Craft Making room and created a wonderful fanciful and fun environment for the kids to create felt doves, snowflakes, hot cocoa and more. Dara also helped with text editing and gave lots of overall support. FRIENDSAPALOOZA Co-Chairs
LAURYN SMALL and JAKE OTTMAN did an amazing job creating Friendsapalooza. Their vision created a star-studded event, featuring Billy Rohan, 5boro, Lady Pink and Tiny Animals. Lauryn and Jake raised well over $4,000 in in-kind and cash donations for the event. Jake did tours of the 8th grade and HS to promote the event and raise awareness about Horizons. They helped start a new tradition at BFS. It was outstanding to watch them work and to get to work with them.
COORDINATORS: Thanks to TRENTE MILLER, who has organized and improved Carnival for three years running! Carnival is a huge success thanks to Trente’s vision of the event. It is a huge draw for all of the kids, who can stay up there all day long playing games and jumping in any number of bouncy rides! Thanks to Carnival Co-Coordinator DAN LOEVEN for helping to improve the carnival and helping it all run smoothly on Saturday. Dan also helped with ALL of the mailings, moving heavy things all over the building, and loading in the vendors. DEANNA D’AMORE, for her second year, took on the task of finding, signing up and organizing vendors. She did a fantastic job, and is so dependable. Many thanks. HIROKO GILEDA helped Deanna with vendors, assisted in the mailings, and came up with the fabulous idea to have our origami paper printed rather than buying it— all with her little girl sitting on her lap! Thanks to ANNA KAO for her dedication to the overall event, helping with everything from text editing to mailings to filling in for me when I needed a break. She did an amazing job with PR from banners to PR included in calendars for the downtown Brooklyn area. As well, Anna helped organize and create the children’s crafts (I love the felt doves and snow flakes!) for the craft making room at the event and all with her little papoose in tow!
MARISA FARINA did an amazing job with PR, getting the event written up in many local blogs and magazines (including Time Out NY Kids), and created a PR document we will use for years to come. Marisa also baked a lot of cupcakes & made mac n’ cheese! For the third year, HELENE BENEDETTI created the amazing graphic designs that became the signature for this event. Her design was incorporated into everything from invites, flyers, and posters, to banners, origami paper, and hoodies! Oh my! Helene gives the event an upscale look and feel, and delivers so quickly. Helene’s hubby ANDREW SIMONS helped with the banners on a tight deadline and volunteered on the day of the event. Thanks to CHE CHISHOLM and JEILA GUERAMIAN for all of the inspired, beautiful decorations and decoration concepts two years running. They are quite a pair to see in action... so quick and talented!! (Also, I want to thank Jeila for all her help last year!) TAMAR EFRAT handled everything to do with the parent-made food. I appreciate her delicious and healthy updates to the menu and it was a pleasure to get to work with her. Thanks to TOUKIE SMITH for picking up all of the donated food! Oh my gosh, I don’t know what we would have done with out you! Also, thanks to Toukie for the pizza and fruit salad donation. GIOVANNA CURRLIN jumped in to help with Photo Taking and Frame Making and was such a generally supportive person. JANETTE O’SULLIVAN once again filling our lobby with beautiful plants. AMY MAZUR helped with ALL the mailings and created the finger knitting project. Thanks to MONIA DINI for planning, organizing and personally donating all of the adorable barrette and headband decorating supplies. THANH BUI organized and procured a donation for organic hot cocoa for the craft making room. Special appreciation to LISA SHONFIELD for her advice as our “secret consultant,” helping with flyers and for picking up the caesar salad, AFRIQIYAH WOODS-MCDOWELL for help with sponsorship and for pulling an all evening shift on Friday in the cafeteria, PAM KIERNAN for organizing the US Ambassadors and for pitching in on Saturday, MARTINE DELLEMAND for Saturday day of help and delicious cupcake frosting, and EMMY PARKER for getting the frames for Photo Taking donated and picked up from Kate’s Paperie! Thanks to DANAE ORATOWSKI for her all-day (AND all-night!) help on both Friday and Saturday, as well as baking!
This event was a great start to working with the HORIZONS BOARD on sponsorship for the event. Special thanks to: JOE CHAN for his strong fundraising and in-kind donation procurement for the event, and for his commitment to assisting with the event in any way he could, ERMINIA RIVERA for her incredibly generous in kind donation from her hardware store PARK AVENUE BUILDING & ROOFING SUPPLIES and for an additional generous cash donation, KATIE WELLING for helping to organize the Horizon Board’s involvement in fundraising, for securing a very generous donation from COCA-COLA, and for bringing the vendor Thanda to the event, and TERENCE MULLIN for pitching in and volunteering to assist with table set-up and loading in the vendors.
Many BFS TEACHERS have also helped make this event happen, and I want to single out a few. DORI DIETZ and ROXANNE ZAZZARO jumped in to advise and help with the planning for Friendsapalooza. It was great to work with both of you and we really appreciate your efforts. ANGIE UNGARO and JOAN RAPPAPORT helped involve the 8th grade in Friendsapalooza. CATHERINE CLARK allowed us to use the Meeting House and was so very helpful in setting up all the needed tech items for the Winter Festival. KERRI RICHARDSON-REDDING helped with needed technology. One again, SARA SOLL for organized one of the favorite tables with the vendors - the PS and LS children’s crafts table. Thanks, Sara, for all of your support. My appreciation to DAVID GARDELLA for letting us use the gyms and helping with the bleachers and lights, TAUNYA BLACK for rearranging her classes to accommodate the Friday event, RACHEL MAZOR for organizing the MS craft table with the vendors (we were so happy to have the MS join us), Dance Teachers MARGARET BARY and JESSE PHILLIPS-FEIN for allowing us use of the dance studios for Winter Festival, and the 7th floor teachers for allowing us to use your class rooms for face painting and the toy drive. TIM WAUGH did a rush job in the woodshop on some much needed wood planks! Librarians KATHY HARTZLER, LARRY WILLIAMS and ANGIE UNGARO once again created a wonderful book fair at the event. GREGG MARTIN took photographs at Friendsapalooza, and Ellen Conroy spent many hours promoting the Horizons classroom libraries fund.
Special thanks to BFS STAFF: NITZA RIVERA, for your thoughts and advice on what food and how much we should offer, and for all of your day of help. It was nice to work with you! JUAN RIVERA for two long days in the kitchen helping with the event (and for making me many omelets over the past two months!), DESIREE GAUL for your help on Saturday, MANNY NARVAEZ for getting everything taken care of around the building for two days, KEVIN NARVAEZ for the phones and ATM advice, CHERYL FOOTE for helping collect origami, cooking trays, and recruiting ticket sales for Friendsapalooza, MANNY COLON, EDDIE IGLESIAS, LOUISE LEBRON for helping with the event for two days, MICHAEL CAPERS, LEE DAVIS, KATHY STEWART for elevator assistance, SANTOS MARTINEZ, TONY PILASOV, ALEX GUZCHENKO and MAX
CEDENO for cleaning and assisting with tables.
For helping setup for FRIENDSAPALOOZA, thanks to Nancy Boissy, Asha Jenkins, Danae Oratowski, Melissa Coad, Jeila Gueramian and our dads who were stair monitors, Anker Heegaard, Scott Anderson, Brian Coad and Chris McConnell. Teacher chaperones Sidney Bridges, Joe Kremer, Sue Aaronson, Felix Alberto, Jeff Corlette, Darren Lovelock, Marna Herrity, Tina Piccolo, Elio Valenti, Donna Foote. And to friends MICHAEL WINN and JACK LIAKAS who graciously volunteered their time to assist during the event.
Thanks to BFS US STUDENTS for their help with FRIENDSAPALOOZA: JAKE BUHLER for the amazing design (and super fast delivery) of the Friendsapalooza poster, ABRAHAM AXLER really getting behind Horizons and selling so many tickets, for your thoughts and ideas, and for bringing the popcorn machine up the stairs and selling the popcorn with SEBASTIAN JEAN! Thanks to FRANK BULL for arranging the equipment and monitoring Rock Band, LUC THOMAS member of TTTechnique for spinning at the event, JAKE GINSBERG for selling tickets and ice cream, AXITA VORA selling tickets, DOMINIC DE MARTINI & BEATRICE TAIT LOFT for selling ice cream and drinks, JAKE REIBEN for selling tickets, and CONWAY BOYCE for tremendous help setting up and cleaning up the event. Thanks to the PANTHERS SUPREME, JAMARA HILL, ASHA PAUL, SHANI PAUL, CRYSTAL FRANKLIN, TYLER CLARKE AND CALLI THOMAS-SIEGEL for performing as the opening act for Friendsapalooza!
Thanks to BFS HS AMBASSADORS for their help with the Winter Festival: SAMANTHA REES & ZOE BABIAN for all day cupcake decorating, ASHA BOSTON for face painting and decorating help, MAX SCHERZER, ADAM BASSIOUNI & OLIVIA JACOBS for assisting carnival rides and games, TIFFANY MCINTOSH for selling hoodies with the vendors.
Thanks to BFS 8th GRADE STUDENTS: ROSE ADAMS, SARAH MURRAY, ANNA MACKIE AND MELINA ROBERTS for selling tickets to Friendsapalooza.
AND MANY, MANY THANKS to the vast number of Volunteers who generously gave of their time. We could not have run the event with out everyone chipping in!
- Laura Bergeron-Mirsky, Chair, PAT Winter Festival
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