The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

fundraising

20 Years of Supporting our Schools: 20th Annual Benefit

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chap-school-founationsCome and support public education in Chappaqua at the Chappaqua School Foundation’s 20th Annual Spring Benefit
 at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor on Friday April 25 at 7 p.m.  Join your friends and neighbors for a casual evening (yes- you can wear jeans!) featuring a fabulous and informative showcase of grants in action presented by students and faculty, extensive silent auction, raffle, great food and great company.  As an added bonus, your Benefit ticket purchase also provides you with an all-access pass to Spring Madness–more than a month of discounts and special offers from a large number of participating local merchants.

The annual Spring Benefit is CSF’s biggest fundraiser. Bring your friends and be part of a special evening in support of our schools.

About CSF

The Chappaqua School Foundation was founded 20 years ago with a simple mission: to enhance the education of Chappaqua’s students by funding meaningful initiatives beyond the scope of the school budget.   Since that time, CSF has funded over 200 grants providing nearly $2 million in resources to support innovative programs spanning all curricular areas and all grade levels in all six schools. CSF continues to build a strong partnership with our school district to ensure that there are exciting possibilities for long-term innovation and improvement in teaching and learning, while also allowing our District to maintain its foundation of academic excellence. This collaboration between our school district and CSF fosters innovative projects, such as the iLab, that might not be possible elsewhere without such strong community support. CSF also remains committed to working with teachers with creative educational ideas by funding learning programs that engage our students while increasing their potential for intellectual curiosity and academic excellence and which impact your children’s learning every day.

CSF’s fundraising efforts make it possible for Chappaqua schools to continue to undertake innovative programming and to pilot new teaching tools and methods in classrooms despite the financial pressures impacting our school budget. As our District continues to wrestle with hard decisions necessitated by challenging financial times, our community needs to ensure that our schools and our students have access to cutting edge learning technology and educational innovation.  Now more than ever, CSF and the continued generosity of our community are critical to maintaining the quality of education our Chappaqua students deserve.

For a comprehensive list of CSF grants to the schools 
and more information about the Spring Benefit and 
Spring  Madness, please visit the CSF website at 
www.chappaquaschoolfoundation.org.

Consulting For A Cause: A Great CHOICE

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Matt Daly
Matt Daly

By Matthew Daly, CFC Intern

With Valentine’s Day come and gone, we are left with memories of love lost, roses by the dozen, and heart-shaped chocolate boxes. For Paula Barbag and her Consulting For A Cause (CFC) Team, however, the spirit of love, passion, and devotion extends year round. CFC, as the firm is known within the fundraising world, has operated under the premise of care-based prosperity since its inception in 2012. Within the past twelve months, 2013’s New Business of the Year helped to spread the love within the greater Westchester area by providing vital consulting services to the organizations that need them the most.

“Consulting For A Cause has become our lifeline to new strategies and approaches.” Such are the words of Guy Fessenden, CFC’s first client. In October of 2010, Fessenden brought an end to his lucrative IT career so he could run from Savannah, Georgia to Santa Monica, California–all to raise awareness for mental illness. Fessenden now works alongside his daughter Suzanne, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 16, as the Executive Director of C.H.O.I.C.E. of New Rochelle. C.H.O.I.C.E. (Consumers Helping Others in a Caring Environment) is a nonprofit organization that provides case management, advocacy, and homeless outreach services to those afflicted with mental illness.

The two year relationship shared between CFC and C.H.O.I.C.E. has undoubtedly helped to accelerate programmatic development within the latter organization. Most recently, CFC helped to raise $20,000 for C.H.O.I.C.E. with a fundraising art exhibit hosted by internationally renowned pop artist Charles Fazzino.

The event, which featured artwork drawn by C.H.O.I.C.E. clients, served as a medium through which the isolation and loneliness felt each day by those with mentally illness could be expressed. Fessenden’s latest project, Share The Light, is a grass roots organization that hopes to dismantle the negative stigmas currently associated with mental illness in contemporary society.

Matthew Daly is a junior at William and Mary College and a graduate of Horace Greeley High School. For more information about Consulting For A Cause, visit wwwconsultingforacause.com or contact Paula Barbag at 914 238-2199.