It’s my pleasure to introduce you to one of our clients at work Bear Givers. I’ve always been really passionate about working for non-profits after working on a couple of pro bono campaigns and am excited to share Bear Giver’s mission with you. 

Bear Givers brings joy to terminally ill children, the elderly and others in need with the gift of a teddy bear. They believe that it is better to give than receive and their mission shines throughout all of their programs. They also have an empowerment program that works with special needs children to help them appreciate the art of giving. Often special needs children are on the receiving end and Bear Givers works with the children by giving them a teddy bear and then giving them another one to give to someone else in their community. They also have an empowerment art program that allows the children to make an art piece and have it auctioned off with the proceeds going toward their school or hospital. A large part of what Bear Givers does is partner with different hospitals and schools around the tri-state area and host the art galleries and silent auctions to benefit their institutions.

For this event, Bear Givers had partnered with NYU Langone’s RUSK Institute of Rehabilitation and displayed the artwork at the Cue Art Foundation in Chelsea. As Bear Giver’s public relations firm, we stepped up by getting in touch with local celebrities to get them involved by donating a piece of artwork. We sent out art kits to selected celebrities and were very happy to be able to feature artwork from Martha Stewart, Yoko Ono, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford, Nobu, and a couple of New York Giants players among others. We also managed the set-up, sign-in, and all of the silent auction details. This was my first working experience with a silent auction so it was also really great to see how things roll out. 

The event turned out fantastic! The artwork, celebrity and kids, turned out fabulous. It was so neat to see some of the artists at the event and see their excitement with their artwork being on display next to some of their favorite celebrities as well. The artwork, catering, band, speech, and attendees made for such a great night. By the end of the night we had over 400 people come and raised over $20,000 for a great cause. I’d say it was a success!

And just like that.. the long weekend was quickly over and I was headed back to work and Mama Duck was off to fend for herself in the city. Mama Duck is becoming a pro now though so I wasn’t too worried. It was kind of a bummer too because it rained ALL day.. We really lucked out with the weekend. She still had time to venture down to the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street before I was ready to get off work. 

Our plan was to grab dinner and head downtown to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. We made it to the first half… With our umbrellas in-hand we ventured to Uva, another one of my favorite Italian places on the Upper East Side. Trust me, I did NOT disappoint with food options for this trip! By the time we made it to the restaurant we were soaked.. dinner was fabulous. I got a pasta dish and my mom got prosciutto wrapped scallops. It took us a bit to decide.. but that is what happens when the menu is half in Italian! That, and the fact that my mom was trying to pick a wine to try without ordering the $1,700 top ticket on the menu. We did discover it was for the bottle, but didn’t want to make that mistake ;-)

After dinner we were still determined to make it to the Top of the Rock. The weather was still crumby, but maybe no one would be up there! Well, no one was up there.. but they also told us you couldn’t see anything because of the cloud cover. So that was a bummer. We decided to continue to walk downtown though so my Mom could at least get some photos of, her favorite, the Empire State Building. We may have had to wait awhile for the clouds to pass to get a decent picture… and the fact that the first 15 minutes my mom was taking pictures they didn’t actually save… but by the end of the night she had her picture!

Sadly, this was marking the end of my mom’s trip to the big apple… we were headed back uptown to get situated for my mom’s departure the next day. Goodbyes never really get any easier.. but I’m really looking forward to being home for Christmas! See you in a couple of months Washington!