When Chappaqua’s Claire Gilvar launched Booked Parties last year it was a tool to help parents plan their children’s birthday parties by providing lists of vendors and venues throughout Westchester.
This spring Booked Parties expanded into Fairfield County, Conn., the first step of a slow expansion throughout the metropolitan area, said Meryl Lefkowitz, director of marketing and development for the company.
Whenever they head into a new area, Lefkowitz said they look to support an organization that also supports children.
In recent years in Fairfield County, one of the many child-centered organizations is the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, Inc. Its mission is to devote itself to address the needs of families in the area who have been dealing with issues that arose from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.
“We felt like we really wanted to support their mission and help the community, even though it’s been some time since the tragedy, because there’s so much that needs to be done,” Lefkowitz said.
Toward that end, until the end of July, 10 percent of Booked Parties’ proceeds from their work will be donated to the foundation.
Lefkowitz said two other organizations will be partnering with them to help the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation. Share Your Wish, which operates a gift exchange for givers and recipients, will match Booked Parties’ 10 percent donation throughout the month.
The second partnership is with an outfit called Mabel’s Labels, which provides labels for children’s clothing, sports equipment and school supplies. For each Booked Parties contribution, Mabel’s Labels will contribute 30 percent of its proceeds to the foundation.
The goal is to help the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation while increasing the visibility for these organizations and helping to familiarize the communities with the work that they do.
Most of all, as mothers who are concerned for the safety of children, the foundation does important work, Lefkowitz said. It oversees the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, which provides mental health and wellness resources to hundreds of traumatized and grief-stricken children and adults. It also supports various services and organizations serving the community.
“It’s a great organization,” Lefkowitz said. “They are wonderful people doing great work and we just wanted to give them the recognition and the help that they so, so deserve.”
For more information about the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, visit www.nshcf.org. Also visit www.bookedparties.com.
