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Victoria’s Secrets: Giving is actually getting

Sharlene Brown holds our donation check, surrounded by the smiling day campers.

Since our media company began honoring the devoted men and women who benefit the community at our outstanding events, the Power Women, Kings of… and Impact Awards, we have raised thousands of dollars for non profit organizations in those communities. 

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting a donation of $1,600 to the YMCA of the Bronx and  visited their impressive site and saw their services. I also fell in love with the four-year-old children who greeted me with drawings in thank you notes. 

The money was donated from our Power Women of the Bronx event a few weeks earlier. Publisher Laura Guerriero, who leads our Bronx team, had created the impressive event honoring women who make a difference everyday with their work in business and community organizations. 

For many years, Laura has been serving on the Bronx Y board and thought they were a perfect group to use the money — and was she right! 

When I drove up to the new building, perched on the beautiful shorefront overlooking the Whitestone Bridge, I fell in love. 

But when I met the gathering of four-year-old campers, they stole my heart! Many of the tiny campers had created colorful drawings in their notes, and I was enthralled with their enthusiasm. 

At the Bronx YMCA with Geri Sciortino, owner of Bronx Design Group and chairperson of the Bronx YMCA Board of Managers; Laura Guerriero, publisher of the Bronx Times Reporter; Bronx YMCA Executive Director Sharlene Brown; and Board member Judge Fiordaliza Rodriguez a their campus overlooking the Whitestone Bridge.

The executive director, Sharlene Brown, board chairperson Geri Sciortino, owner of Bronx Design Group, and Judge Fiordaliza Rodriguez joined Laura and I in the classroom.

The Y campus includes big and little pools for members and campers, and an indoor pool where I saw the youngest campers learning how to swim. How clever that they wore swim caps to match their swim level, but the one thing that impressed me most was a sparkling ear-to-ear smile on every child’s face.

Beginners swimming lesson at the Bronx Y indoor pool

What joy I felt knowing that our donation will pay for a child whose family can’t afford the camp fee and will receive a scholarship. 

If you want to have your heart warmed, your donation of $200 will enable an inner city child to have the endless smiles I saw on the faces of the children I visited. Any donation will help, and you can send it to the Bronx YMCA, c/o Sharlene Brown, Executive Director, 2 Castle Hill Ave., Bronx, NY 10473, or call 212-912-2490.

Giving is the warmest, heartfelt experience. You will feel the joy that I felt. Be generous!

Congratulations 

Seth and Tracey Kupferberg celebrated the marriage of their son Alex to Lindsay in Palm Beach, Florida on May 11 at the Brazilian Court Hotel. They reside in Manhattan and enjoyed a long honeymoon in Spain, Mayorca and Ireland.