Southampton Village Photo, Southampton

Chris Geminski of Southampton Village Photo has been kind enough to hold onto the beautiful images taken of the children at the Toy Drive. If you are interested in additional copies of your pictures, he would be happy to print them for you at a reasonable cost. Stop by and see him or phone West Main Street Photo at 283-6600.

Thank you note from Have A Heart

Dear WITH Care,

Thank you so much for the donations from the WITH CARE event at the Bridgehampton Community center..already 25 children were given toys-at the Bridgehampton Child care center...the balance will go to Family Service league. They service 150 children from EH to WH and including Riverhead. We gathered more food from another party and are now looking to give a cash donation of $1000 from HAH to complete this donation. We so appreciate the efforts of WITH Care and really look forward to working together to accomplish our goals of reaching out to the less fortunate on the East End of Long Island.

Thanks so much!...Rose Dios
Have A Heart Community Trust

Wishes Really Do Come True

Yesterday's WITH Care Wish Upon A Star Event, held at the Bridgehampton Community House, was an enormous success. Twenty plus volunteers worked together to make a special afternoon for about 100 families. Approximately 150 toys were donated, along with many non-perishable food items, and it was a great beginning for WITH Care's first annual toy drive.



Special thanks to the volunteers - Dani & John Grecu, Myles Romanow, Ray Ray, Heather Fay, Sarah Walker, Lara Pizzanelli, Laura Jayne, Amy Mobius, Patricia Kab, her adorable daughter and two pals, Cora Diaz (expert face painter!), Jackie Robinson, Jennifer Bockhaus, Cristina & Soraya Matos, Stacy & Taylor Navan, Jennifer Rousso, Jennie Magaro & Jeanine Nugent. We also appreciated the clean-up efforts of Andy Brindle and Paul Schwenk - we really needed that push at the end!



Hampton Balloon was amazingly generous to our cause and we had to peel the children off of the bouncy castles! Thanks to Chris Corwith of CC Electronics for our sound system and Rob Florio of Hamptons.Com for our projector. Classic Party Rental donated our tables & linens. Oona Cree made us great signs. Christine Harmon delivered six Christmas Trees which will now go to families in need. Terry McCully brought the most beautiful selection of beads for our jewelry making table- everyone was overwhelmed at the quality of the materials she provided. Erica from Mermaids and Magic supplied Christmas ornaments to decorate (and she has great craft projects available at her shop across from Walbaum's.) Thyme & Again supplied gingerbread cookies for decorating and marshmallow snowmen that were apparently for eating. Professional & talented photographer Eric Striffler (http://www.striffler.com/) and Chris Geminski from West Main Street Photo took beautiful souvenir photos of the children with the Wish Fairies. The benevolence of these vendors was overwhelming - WITH Care cannot thank you enough.



My gratitude goes out to the other six women that make WITH Care go - Darra Goldstein (Event Organizer), Jennifer McLauchlen, Lois Oliveira (Wish Fairy #1), Ginny Poveromo (Wish Fairy #2), Carol Price & Kim Stengel Wei. You, and WITH Care, make my world a brighter place and for that I cannot thank you enough.



Happy Holidays everyone - this is what it's all about!



Pictures to follow.

SELF DEFENSE CLASS

Last night, John Turnbull did an absolutely perfect job teaching very enthusiastic WITH Care members a two hour self defense class. John along with Jim Nelan, Bill Berkoski, Rob Kalbacher, Joe Vetrano, Justin Dubrow, George Drago (I apologize if I've missed anyone) went through the basic techniques of self defense and the philosophy behind them - and who would have imagined the level of personal instruction we received. The members of the dojo could not have been more welcoming, respectful and patient.

The Aikenkai Studio is located at 15 Mariner Drive in Southampton (537-8521) and offers all levels of instruction for adults and children.

Founders Circle of WITH Care

This picture was taken at our launch party on October 3rd. These seven women are the founders of WITH Care - for more information go to Hamptons.com by following this link - http://www.hamptons.com/detail.ihtml?id=5082

Drop Off Spots for Holiday Food/Toy Drive

The Country School in Wainscott has offered to be an additional drop off point for our holiday food/toy drive. Thank you!!! Other drop off points currently include, Thyme & Again in Southampton and McLauchlen Real Estate in Southampton. We are seeking additional locations in Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor & East Hampton. Any suggestions - please send us an e-mail.

December 3rd Self Defense Class

On December 3rd, WITH Care will be offering a free two hour self defense class beginning at 7 p.m. John Turnbull will be teaching the class and it is available for 30 members on a first come first served basis. For additional information, please contact us at withcareinfo@gmail.com. Make sure to sign up early.

Assistance Needed for Wish Upon A Star Family Fun Day

As many of you know, WITH Care will be sponsoring a holiday toy/food drive that will culminate in a family fun event at the Bridgehampton Community house from 1 - 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 7th. The event will include Face Painting, Craft Tables, Cookie Decorating, Music, a visit with the Wish Fairies and more.


Children will be asked to bring an unwrapped toy,and adults a non-perishable food item in lieu of an admission price.


Have a Heart Community Trust will be assisting WITH Care in the distribution of collected product throughout the East End.


We are currently seeking underwriters, volunteers and additional drop off points for toys and non-perishable food items (especially in areas between Montauk and West Hampton beach that are not Southampton.)


Your support means a great deal to us - if you are interested in volunteering, donating or helping with goods or services - please contact us by e-mail - withcareinfo@gmail.com.

Minutes From Our First Membership Meeting

WITH Care
Open Meeting
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
7:00 p.m.
at Wildthyme Restaurant


At 7:03 p.m. the meeting was called to order by Delaney. She greeted the group, welcomed them to Wildthyme and introduced herself to new faces.
A quick overview of WITH Care and its mission statement was given verbally to the group. She then introduced Kim.

Kim announced that WITH Care would be offering a self defense class on December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at the studio of John Turnbull. The class will be free and open to 30 members on a first come basis. She followed up by pointing out to the attending membership that they had each been given a list of possible seminar topics and classes to be offered in the future and emphasized that their answers would affect upcoming programming.
Kim announced Darra.

Darra spoke about the December 7th Wish Upon a Star Family Fun Event – that it would be held from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Community House. That there will be no formal admission price and that each child will be asked to bring an unwrapped gift and that each adult will be asked to bring a non-perishable food item. Face painting, craft tables, cookie decorating etc. will be offered as activities.
Terry asked about craft tables…and jewelry making as an activity and offered to help with this table. We need to follow up and find out exactly what level her involvement will be.
Darra stressed the need for volunteers for the event, underwriting for the event and that the Founder’s Circle is open to ideas and suggestions from the membership.
Darra introduced Lois.

Lois explained the WITH Care concept of collaboration vs. competition and that WITH Care has paired with Have a Heart Community Trust to distribute the toys and food collected as a result of the December 7th event. She also announced that WITH Care has partnered through the South Fork Breast Coalition and the Retreat to help two women and their families in need this holiday season.

Membership asked many questions regarding the monetary amount that WITH Care would be giving these families…Amanda Guglielmi offered that she had a garage full of children’s clothes to donate to the Retreat family in need and asked if WITH Care “picked up.” Ginny & Kim both volunteered that they have trucks and would be happy to go to West Hampton to pick up her items.

Ivy volunteered to help underwrite the assistance given to the families in need.

Membership questioned the protocol for determining a family or women and need – the Founder’s Circle explained how the determination was made for the holiday season and that a strict application process was being created. Terry questioned whether the membership would vote on who would receive assistance. Delaney pointed out that a true family in crisis would not be able to wait 4 – 8 weeks for a general membership meeting to vote on who received funding. This will be determined thru the application process and a vote of the Founder’s Circle.

After many questions back and forth – Lois introduced Ginny.

Ginny reiterated that WITH Care is a volunteered based organization and that there would be no paid salaries. She emphasized that thus far the members of the Founder’s Circle have used their own paper etc. and there has been no expense to date other than a $60 mailbox fee and the money outlaid for tax filing. She went on to explain that we are a pass thru organization…
Patricia Kab questioned whether we would run down to zero or if we would build up some savings for larger projects, investments etc. Lois interjected that it was a very premature question and again emphasized that we are a fledgling organization and would not have large chunks of money for some time.

Tanya Luss suggested we approach Rotary. Lois explained we are not quite ready for that but that when the time comes she is welcome to make a presentation to Rotary on WITH Care’s behalf.

Ginny introduced Jennifer.


Jennifer explained that she is in charge of Community Outreach and would be the liason between school systems etc. and WITH Care. She asked that membership distribute flyers within their workplace, children’s schools, churches etc. She emphasized that we are all of different backgrounds and that we anticipate diverse participation in our programs.

The membership asked what the best way to contact us is…Delaney explained through the WITH Care gmail e-mail or by contacting a member of the Founder’s Circle individually.

Jennifer Bockhaus talked about a friend who belonged to a Leeds (sp) organization in Colorado where there was an effective barter system within the membership and asked if this is something that WITH Care would do. It was tabled for future discussion.

Joan Tutt volunteered that if WITH Care decides to join the Southampton Chamber of Commerce that she is happy to be the liason between the chamber and the group.

Several members signed up to volunteer at the December 7th event.

14 new members joined. 7 at the Founding Member level.


All in all it was a great meeting.