UPCOMING EVENTS

2008 Yard Sale
Yes, we ARE planning a yard sale, even though it's already 2008. In fact, there are a TON of really nice items right in Elaine and Bill's living room, including hundreds and hundreds of books of all kinds, household stuff (coffee makers, irons, dishes, pots and pans, glasses, you name it), clothes, gift items, baby stuff, you name it. You can get a sneak peek of about 1% of the items we have by clicking on the following link: http://www.flickr.com/sgf-virtual-yard-sale. Possible (and that means possible) date is October 20, but we'd love to welcome you over to have your own private sale whenever it's convenient for you. Just get in touch by email or phone: sgf@stevegliddenfoundation.org or 617 527-0172 and we'll figure out a mutually convenient time. See you soon!

ONGOING EVENTS

Amazon.com and SGF are Now Partners!
If you shop at Amazon.com, you can help raise money for SGF in the process! Every time you enter the Amazon.com site through the SGF home page, 6% (and sometimes more) or your entire purchase goes to SGF! And it costs you not one penny extra. There is a link to Amazon right on the SGF homepage, so please do your Amazon shopping by clicking to the amazon site through SGF's homepage link. We already have raised nearly $400 from our Amazon partnership. THANK YOU!

Steve-Bay! - The Steve Glidden Foundation has an on-line auction site called Steve-Bay! The concept is simple: generous people donate items for which they get a tax deduction, other people bid on and ultimately buy those items on-line (often for a partial tax deduction), and funds are raised to help deserving kids. Check out the active listings and find out how you can donate items or services by clicking this handy link (this is the handy link). So far, we have raised nearly $23,000 from Steve-Bay! Happy shopping!

Bottle and Can Drive All Year Round: SGF recycles and helps kids in the process! So far we have collected (and redeemed) more than 68,000 bottles and cans which has allowed us to raise close to $3,500 for the camp scholarship program - just from bottle and can redemptions!

You can help raise the next $3,500 regardless of whether or not you live close by. Here's all you need to do: set aside your redeemable bottles and cans now and on an ongoing basis. You can either recycle them yourself and donate the proceeds, hang on to them untill our next bottle drive event - (to be announced), or you can bring them over to the bottom of the driveway at 58 Westminster Rd. in Newton Centre (click for a map).

Whatever you choose, please make sure your bottles and cans are rinsed and sorted first, and are the type that produces a 5 cent redemption. Sticky cans are very icky indeed, especially if they are sticky from someone else. Also, PLEASE do not donate empty wine and liquor bottles (beer bottles are fine to donate), water bottles, juice boxes or soup cans - yes, we have gotten all of these! We cannot redeem them and do not want to have to pick through and throw out these items!

How else can you help? Start a campaign to collect bottles and cans for SGF at your school or work place, or at a religious or community center you frequent. Ask your favorite local restaurant if you could put out a barrel for redeemable bottles with a sign indicating the redemption money will go to SGF (we can help you create or produce a sign if you want). Every nickel counts. If we all do this consistently, we will be able to send kids to camp on bottles and can power alone!

SGF Logo Merchandise! SGF has a quality line of "Steve Signature" shirts, totes, and mugs, all of which have gotten rave reviews. All these items bear the gorgeous SGF "mountain motif" logo, designed by Steve's sister, Sarah Glidden, who is an artist in real life (way to go, Sarah!). Click here (actually, here) for more information. You can order on-line by sending us an email with your order (we'll reply with payment instructions and verify that we have the items you want on-hand) or you can come any of our events, as we make sure to bring a good selection along with us wherever we go.

RECENT EVENTS

Bloomingdales Shopping Benefit - February 27, 2008: Bloomingdale’s Shopping Benefit Day took place on Wednesday February 27 at both Bloomingdale's locations in Chestnut Hill Mall. We raised about $100 from this event, and we thank you

Entertainment 2008 Book Sale: Our “Entertainment 2008” sale was very successful. All in all, we sold 51 books (including several that were ordered over the internet. This year alone, Bill and Elaine have saved over $80 just by using the book at places we would go to anyway. If you haven't purchased one in the past, plan on getting one for 2009 (we'll have them in early August). At $25, these books are terrific bargains, full of coupons and discount vouchers to area shops and restaurants, dry cleaners and other stores, movies, attractions, auto rentals, hotels, cruises, and a whole lot more. They also make excellent gifts. Stay tuned.

2008 Red Sox Playoff tickets: We raised $3,385 from selling a pair of "obstructed view" tickets to each and every 2008 Red Sox Playoff and World Series game played at Fenway. Click here for more info, as well as a photo from the exact seats.

Celebrate Newton 2006: We had a wonderful day at the fair this year, thanks to very generous shoppers and a wonderful group of volunteers. All in all, we took in nearly $775 to suport SGF's worthy programs. Thanks to our volunteers and hundreds of shoppers!

2006 Shop for a Cause at Macy's: Macy’s "Shop for a Cause" was a great success, in large part due to the efforts of a single volunteer - Emily Perlmutter, who sold a slew of tickets. All in all we sold 28 tickets and raised $140 from this event. We'll most likely do this next year and hope to raise even more money.

Moving/Estate Sale to Benefit SGF: A wonderful and generous woman named Judith Grimes contacted SGF to let us know that she would be moving out of the country and would like to donate most of her furniture and other household items to SGF. Since we have neither a date nor a location for our next yard sale, she graciously invited us to hold a moving sale at her home on 4 Hovey St. All in all we raised very close to $1,000 due to Judith's incredible generosity. Thanks and bon voyage, Judith!

Bloomingdale's 2006 Shopping Benefit for Charity: This very popular shopping day, was a good fundraiser for SGF, thanks to Bloomingdale's and SGF's generous supporters. All in all, we raised over $300, all of which is going to support the SGF Summer Camp Scholarship Program and the SGF Healthy Kids Initaitive. We eill definitely participate next year and hopefully raise a lot more!

Longwood Symphony Concert: The Saturday Feb. 11, 2006 Longwood Symphony Concert at Jordan Hall was astonishingly beautiful and also was a great success as a fundraiser, enabling us to meet our goal of raising $10,000 to launch the new SGF Healthy Kids Initiative. Ticket sales certainly helped us reach this goal, but the vast bulk of the vital seed money for the Healthy Kids Initiative came from the dozens and dozens of individual and corporate SGF supporters who donated money above and beyond the price of their tickets, or who volunteered prior to or during the conert itself. This link will take you to an updated program insert page that lists our many corporate and individual donors. You may recognize friends or neighbors on this list. If you do, please let them know they are acknowledged with gratitude! Similarly, we encourage you to patronize the shops and businesses that stepped up to the plate as corporate and/or reception sponsors and to let them know that you are choosing to shop there to acknowledge their generosity and support of SGF.

At the concert istelf, we were glad to welcome three families now living in Massachusetts as a result of Hurricane Katrina, plus one of the pastors (Rev. Howard Haywood of Myrtle Baptist Church in Newton) who did so much (and hasn't stopped, by the way) in the aftermath of the hurricane, as our honored guests. We are also grateful that the blizzard didn't hit until the following day!

We have received many comments about the way SGF was described in the concert program notes, and have been asked to make these notes available on our website. We are glad to do so. Please click this link if you wish to read them yourself. By way of background, the Longwood Symphony designated SGF as its beneficiary charity for the recent concert, which began with a pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm by Music Director Jonathan McPhee and was followed by a very well attended post-concert reception featuring Mr. McPhee, violin soloist Juliette Kang, and Stephen Dankner (the evening's featured composer) among others. The musical program for the evening included works by Bach, Dvorak and Dankner. Mr. Dankner is composer in residence of the now dispersed Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and was in attendance. He spent time with SGF supporters at the reception and is now a SGF contributor - THANK YOU! We have officially designated Stephen Dankner as the Official Composer of the Steve Glidden Foundation (hey, if the Olympics can do it, why can't we?!).

In case you want to learn more about Longwood Symphony or about the recent concert, the Event Information Sheet has details.

Entertainment 2006 Books: Thanks to all who purchased Entertainment 2006 books - we'll do this again for 2007, beginning in September. Happy savings to all!

2005 "Day of Giving" event at Chestnut Hill Mall: SGF once again participated in the annual "Simon Day of Giving" event on Sunday Nov. 20 at the Chestnut Hill Mall. Those who purchased tickets were treated to bargains, prizes and a very special shopping day. Thanks for supporting SGF in the process!

2005 Celebrate Newton Craft Fair: We had a record day at the fair, raising more money this year than in any previous year. All in all, $828.07 was raised to suport SGF's worthy programs. Thanks to all 30 volunteers and hundreds of shoppers!

The Fourth Annual (2005) SGF Benefit Yard Sale: A huge success!!!! We raised over $10,000 and built community in the process! Thank you!

Newton Highlands Village Day 2005: It was SO hot that day but we all had a great time giving out advance information about the upcoming Yard Sale, and selling SGF logo wear, sodas and bottled water (at just $1 per can, it was huge bargain and welcome relief from the heat!). A group of dedicated Kid Corps kids handled the "make your own button" station and raised over $75 from that alone! All in all we raised over $800, added several dozen people to the SGF NewsFlash list and got ourselves on NEW TV! Way to go Kid Corps!

2004 Evening of Giving: The Evening of Giving at The Mall at Chestnut Hill took place on Sunday November 21 and was a great success (and a lot of fun). One hundred twenty two people purchased tickets from SGF nad enjoyed discounts at over 40 shops, chances to win door prizes and special offers while they listened to some pretty cool jazz and got a jump on their holiday shopping.

At the request of the mall management, we staffed all 6 entrance doors to the mall, had a really good time and earned an additional $1,200 for the SGF Summer Camp Scholarship Program. All in all, we raised over $2,000 from this event!!!!

2004 Celebrate Newton! Holiday Crafts Fair: The Celebrate Newton! Holiday Crafts Festival took place in the new cafeteria at Newton South High School on Sunday November 14 from 10 am - 4 pm. SGF participated once again in full force with our make-your-own-button sales, as well as shirts, mugs, totes, sodas, a 50-50 raffle and a white elephant table. We also sold Entertainment 2005 books and ticket to the upcoming Evening of Giving at the Chestnut Hill Mall. All in all, we raised $654, in large part due to our dedicated Kid Corps members, including Molly Brown, Vanessa Friedman, Niki Gerber, Sam Grieb, Alexa Marion, Linnea Sage, Daniel Wong, and brand new Kid Corps (senior division) members Vince Rowan and Heather Fong. Way to go kids! THANK YOU!!!

SGF at the 2004 Newton Centre Harvest Fair: Our Kid Corps and adult volunteers were out in force, and we raised $602.11 from our "make-your-own-button" table, as well as shirts, mugs, totes, sodas, a 50-50 raffle and a white elephant table. We also sold Entertainment 2005 books and tickets to the upcoming Evening of Giving (11/21/04). Thanks to all who volunteered and visited!

Hybrid Car Raffle: The Honda Civic Hybrid Car Raffle was a huge success! After expenses (the cost of the first, second and third place prizes and the rather hefty fee we had to pay to the Commonwealth), we are proud to say that we raised a grand total of $19,426.25! We are very, very pleased with the amount of money we raised and we thank everyone who participated.

Everyone who bought a full ticket sent a child to camp for a week and also gets admitted free to the next Community Dance. So in fact everyone is a winner, especially the kids who are having a fun, safe and enriched summer, thanks to our ticket purchasers and other donors. But three lucky people came away with prizes and here's who they are:

Third prize (a genuine Honda jacket) - Karen Priscella
Second prize (a $50 gift certificate to Restaurant Bricco) - Susan Lau
Grand prize (the car or cash equivalent) - Cliff Montgomery

Congratulations to all!

True, this was a hugely complicated and time consuming endeavor, but it was definitely worth it. We will be surveying our ticket purchasers to see how we can improve things next time around, which will be in about 5 years (unless there are 500 people who write to us, ask us to do it sooner, and promise to buy a ticket!)

2003 Celebrate Newton! Holiday Crafts Fair: The Celebrate Newton! Holiday Crafts Festival took place in the new cafeteria at Newton South High School on Sunday Dec. 14 from 10 am - 4 pm. Despite the one week delay due to the December 7-8 blizzard, the fair had a decent turnout and we raised $439 from make-your-own-button sales, as well as shirts, mugs, totes, sodas, a 50-50 raffle and a white elephant table.

2003 Evening of Giving: SGF participated in force during the 2003 Evening of Giving at The Mall at Chestnut Hill. We sold over 120 advance tickets to the event and "personed" 3 of the entrance doors to the mall. Shoppers enjoyed discounts at over 40 shops, chances to win door prizes, and special offers while they listened to some pretty cool jazz and got a jump on their holiday shopping. One of our ticket purchasers also (a Kid Corps parent) won a $250 gift certificate to Shreve, Crump and Low! All in all, we raised over $1,400 for the SGF Summer Camp Scholarship program.

The 2003 Second Annual SGF Benefit Yard Sale: We had an extraordinary Yard Sale on September 6-7, 2003 and raised $10,500 !!!!!. Click here for a review of this specatcular event! Contact us at sgf@stevegliddenfoundation.org or by phone - (617) 527-0172 if you would like to serve on the 2004 Yard Sale Committee!

Newton Highlands Village Day 2003: June 8, 2003 was a banner day for the Steve Glidden Foundation. We had a great time selling SGF logo wear, staffing the "make your own button" station, selling sodas and bottled water, and giving out advance information about the upcoming Yard Sale. All in all we raised over $500! Way to go Kid Corps and other volunteers!

The First-and-a-Half Annual SGF Benefit Yard Sale took place on April 20 and 21, 2003. We raised $1,730.28 during this impromptu event! Thank you!!!

2002 SGF Holiday Open House: Many friends stopped by to do their last-minute holiday shopping and to say hello and find out about what's up at SGF. The fire was warm, the mulled wine and spiced cider were aromatic and delicious, the many treats were tasty and not at all fattening (!) and the company was lovely. We also raised nearly $600 for SGF!

The Second Annual SGF Community Dance on November 23, 2002 was a great success, attended by close to 300 people of all ages, shapes, abilities, and smiles (including our own Mayor David Cohen). The first two hours was Contra and English Country Dancing and the last two hours consisted of Folk Dances from around the world (including some from countries that no longer exist!). All the dances were expertly taught by Marcie Van Cleave and Tony Saletan, and the music,by Robyn Kynoch, David Titus, Susan Janssen and the International Music Club was outstanding!

In the break between "sets" we were treated to a command performance by the Newtones, an outstanding a capella group from Newton South High School. This group had the audience positively spellbound - thanks, Newtones! All in all, we raised over $4,000 from the dance - thanks to all who contributed and participated.

2002 Newton Centre Harvest Fair: We took a chance and sprung for a booth at the Newton Centre Harvest Fair on October 20, 2002. The weather was perfect (thankfully), the crowds were steady, the Kid Corps (plus several adults) came out in force to help out, and the day was an exhausting success. All in all, we raised $482.11 from sales of mugs, shirts and buttons, especially the "Create Your Own Button" station (only $1.00) that was inspired by Kid Corps member Lizzie Jiang and run by the Kid Corps kids. We also sold cold sodas (75 cents - cheap!), gave out lots of Foundation information, and received a lot of encouragement (and many hugs). Surprisingly, a lot of people had heard of SGF already and came by to sign up to be on the NewsFlash list or just to say hello. There are a lot easier ways to raise money than $1.00 at a time at a town fair or at a yard sale, but there is no better way to build community and remember the importance of remembering and staying connected. So, we will certainly plan on making the Harvest Fair an annual occurence. Join us next year!

The First Annual SGF Benefit Yard Sale!!! The first annual community-wide SGF Benefit Yard Sale and Bottle Drive took place on Saturday September 14, 2002 and was a resounding success! More than 50 people donated really good quality items, making this one of the biggest yard sales anyone has ever seen!

We are grateful to the dozens and dozens of volunteers, (click here to see a partial list) both adult and kid, who contributed their time, energy and labor to sort, price, set-up, run and clean up after the sale. Some came over on Friday evening to help get everything ready for the next day. Others arrived as early as 6:30 in the morning on Saturday to make sure everything was ready for the inevitable early birds. Still others stayed at the end or came over on Sunday to help clean up.

The sale itself was a great success, with hundreds and hundreds of people shopping and learning about the SGF.in the process. So how much do you think we raised?

If you think we raised $1,000...

You're wrong!!!

If you think we raised $3,000...

You're still wrong!!!

We took all the money we raised to the bank and here's how much we raised:

$4,941.85 !!!!!!!!!

We donated the left-over items to a variety of charitable causes, including the Folk Arts Center, which had their own yard sale a couple of weeks after ours to help reduce the 62% cut in their funding (FAC was one of the many victims of the state budget cuts). Folk Arts Center members are among those wonderful people who donate their time and talent for our benefit during the Community Dance, so it was a natural for us to have our yard sale leftovers donated to their good cause. Gluttons for punishment, we then TOOK several van loads of leftovers from the FAC yard sale once it was over and sorted and delivered everything to other charities and good causes, including Friends of the Newton Free Library (22 cartons of books), the Newton - San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua) Sister Cities Project (30 cartons of summer clothes and shoes, otherwise known as ropas y zapatos), and a large, if not huge, number of bags and cartons of clothes, household goods, baby equipment, overcoats and miscellaneous items to Rosie's Place, the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, the Boston University School of Medicine Homeless Outreach Van, and Crittendon-Hastings House. We will do this again gladly, as there is such enormous need, right in the midst of our local area.

Thanks also to the Kid Corps, with gentle guidance from Diane Jiang, for running the bottle drive during the Yard Sale (we raised $120 from that alone!), and for raising hundreds more by selling cold sodas and also for selling the brand new line of SGF "signature" merchandise: logo shirts, totes and mugs. The new SGF logo was designed by Steve's sister Sarah Glidden, and the items were produced for us in record time by Allan Strachman and Arnie Andler of Bilt-Well Uniforms, Inc.. What an awesome group!

Clearly, there are easier ways to raise money, but the yard sale and its accompanying bottle drive, plus the directed donations we were able to make after the yard sale was over, were such community-building, fun and rewarding events that we have decided to do this again next year (yes, Virginia, we ARE insane!).

NB: please set aside and keep your bottles, cans and yard sale donation items for next year's sale - although we can accept bottles and cans throughout the year, we have discovered that we actually do better when we have a space in which we can live (duh!), so we won't be able to accept your donations of goods until next summer. Thanks!!

ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE YARD SALE AND BOTTLE DRIVE GO DIRECTLY TO THE SGF MISSION and will help bring peace and healing to our troubled world. And remember, since we rely entirely on volunteers and have no paid staff, every dollar that is donated goes directly to the Foundation's mission.

Kid Corps in the Dunkin Dugout at Fenway Park!!! Thanks to Ken Kimmel of Dunkin' Donuts (and father of Deena Kimmel of the SGF Kid Corps), ANC Sports and the Boston Red Sox, we had the thrill of taking two groups of Kid Corps kids (36 in total) to two different Red Sox games this summer - the Red Sox - Yankees game on August 27, the Red Sox - Blue Jays game on Sept. 5. The "Dunkin Dugout" is a block of 20 seats right in the middle of the bleachers. Although the Sox lost both games, each evening was great in its own way. The crowd was electric (actually, quite rowdy) during the Sox-Yanks game, with peanuts flying all over the place, the whole constellation of 4-letter words bandied back and forth (we covered the kids' ears) and rowdy (Yankees) fans getting ejected all around us. The game wasn't so good but the bleachers entertainment more than made up for it. The Sox - Blue Jays game was fabulous in its own way - we all got to go onto the field before the game and get pictures taken with Nomar Garciaparra, and we officially welcomed Ashlyn and Dakota - the two kids we sponsored for camp this summer, into the Kid Corps. This was their first time at Fenway, and the delight in their eyes was a joy to see. These two special kids blended right in to the group and are already thinking up ways to raise money to send additional kids to camp next year. You can read more about them and their camp experiences soon, in a new section of the website, which will be entitled "Camp Scholarships." Stay tuned, as this section is still under construction (actually, it's still in the thinking stage for the moment!).

We asked Aaron what motivated him to organize so many of his friends to run a car wash and this is what he said:

"Dan Glidden is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. He was my first true friend. I felt like doing this car wash for his brother not only was something I wanted to do, but something I needed to do for Dan and the rest of his family. I got to know Steve very well through Dan, and also Steve was on my brother's basketball team a long time ago. "

If anyone ever complains to you that teenagers are lazy, unmotivated or are lacking in values, please tell them to read about what these great kids did.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

2001 Events

NewsFlash Archives