Latest and Greatest

Greetings friends! Ah, it has been too long since I last blogged! There has been lots going on, so it's not like I have nothing to write about. So what's new? Well, we've been doing a bunch of donations including DCF last week, Fitchburg PD, The St. Ambrose Family shelter in Dorchester and a Newton homeless shelter for battered women and children called Second Step. I had called my contact at Newton PD to see if they needed more items for children, which they did. The Lt. that I work with suggested that I reach out to this Newton shelter and see if they needed items. They were happy to have an assortment of coloring books/crayons and reading books. I also included some really nice kids puzzles that had been donated to us. We've been getting some awesome donations lately from readers of Women's World magazine. One lady from Florida took the time to write us a handwritten note, asking what items we needed. She said that she read about us in the magazine, but didn't have access to a computer. She said that she would go to the Dollar store and buy items for us and mail them. I hand wrote a Project Smile card back to her, thanking her and letting her know what items we needed. It was so sweet to get her note. Here is a photo from our donation to the Second Step shelter. I'm happy that we were able to add a new shelter to partner with.

In other news, we already have 5 participants signed up to participate in the Date Auction. We're partnering with one of Boston's biggest nightlife companies, 6one7 Productions. They are helping with recruiting bachelors/ettes and promoting the event. They were a big help last year with recruiting participants. This time we are including them as an official event partner. Ace, one of the owners of the company, posted the recruiting flyer, on FB today and we got some immediate responses.

I've been getting back into going to a lot of networking events lately. I had gotten out of the routine a bit, but now I have a friend who also enjoys going to networking events for her own company, so we've been going together and it has been great. When you make the commitment to someone else that you're going to be attending, it really ensures that you do actually go to the event. It's easy when you're tired at the end of the day and don't feel like making the drive, to blow off attending. It makes such a difference to have a friend going as well.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to eat some more watermelon and watch the rest of Game 4 of the NBA Finals- go Cavs! Until next time friends...

Latest and Greatest

Greetings friends! I don't know how it has been almost a month since I last blogged. I need to get back to blogging regularly. So what's new? Well, things are going well. Our Step into Spring fashion show fundraiser went great. We had 200 guests attend and had lots of great feedback. Assembly Row was a wonderful partner for the event. They were  a pleasure to work with. Guests enjoyed great fashion from Assembly retailers including Saks and enjoyed delicious cocktails and appetizers from Assembly Row restaurants. The fashions looked great and the food was delicious! A number of retailers also donated items for the silent auction. We raised almost $4,000 which was terrific. It was more than double what our spring shows raised in the past. Special thanks to our vendor sponsors IT Works and Athena's by Kristin, along with our event partner Yelp. We were very happy that the event was included in the Boston Globe's Names section on the day of the event.

Danielle Vollmar from Channel 5 did a great job as usual as host. It was great that we had a lot of special guests including Sam Sisakhti, Us Trendy founder, Miss Massachusetts USA, Miss New Hampshire USA and Miss Maine USA along with their Miss Teen counterparts who also modeled in the fashion show. All of our lovely models donated their time to participate in the show. Here are a few photos. This is our model Rita rocking the white pantsuit.

Our model Natalia looking very trendy in this ensemble..

 The final walk onstage...

 Our special guests, the RevGirls..

 The lovely title holders from the Miss USA pageant. It was great to have their support.

 Lauren and Sarah, the marketing team at Assembly Row, Danielle Vollmar, our host and Miss Maine USA, Miss Massachusetts USA and Miss New Hampshire USA, along with yours truly. I love this photo!

Photos courtesy of Pino Domenico. A special thank you to the students of the New England Institute of Art for all their help backstage at the event. We've worked with them for our past spring shows and they are terrific. They help to make sure that everything runs smoothly. I'd also like to thank our hair/makeup team who also donated all their services including Motives Cosmetics, Veronica Gil Duran, Hair Cuttery and my friend Barrie Lynch, former Mrs. Massachusetts, who stepped in to help do makeup when we were short a person. You can check out lots more photos from one of our other awesome photographers (special thanks to our photographers for donating their services at well), Clark Linehan. Here is the link to his album, please check it out because there are great photos in the album!


https://www.flickr.com/photos/29874046@N03/sets/72157652640182135



Well, I have a load of updates that I need to submit to our web host. I didn't get around to submitting them earlier and want to get them done today. Then off to watch on my favorite guilty pleasure TV show- Real Housewives of NYC (don't judge me please!) Until tomorrow friends....

Busy Days

Greetings friends! So what's new? Well, our Step into Spring fashion show is next Friday! Kennedy from Mix 104.1 is joining us as a special celebrity guest judge for the Best-in-Shoe competition.Things are looking good for the event. We have awesome fashion retailers participating including Saks, Loft, Banana Republic, Chico's,  Lucky and Pendleton. Our models are going to be rocking some great outfits! Our host Danielle Vollmar, just got engaged over the weekend. She is so nice- she's hosted our show a few times before. I'm happy for her. Our event is featured in tomorrow's Yelp newsletter, so hopefully that will give us a nice bump in ticket sales. We're in a good place for tickets, but I always get anxious.

Here is a photo from last week's donation of over 250 stuffed animals, books and coloring books/crayons to the Boston Police Department. Boston is one of our largest departments that we donate to and it is one of my favorites.

We did a silent auction at Boston Event Guide's Luxe shopping event and their annual spring wine and beer fests last week. I'm happy to say that we raised $2,000 during the auctions. Boston Event Guide is so good to us and invite us to do silent auctions at their events. It is a relatively easy way to raise money and I am really grateful for how nice they are. I auction off autographed sports photographs that I get on consignment from a dealer, so anything that doesn't sell gets returned. We're never stuck with any unsold items, so it always works well.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to sort some stuffed animals. Until tomorrow friends...

Wednesday Happenings

Greetings friends! So what's the latest? Well, yesterday I was at Lowell Police Department dropping off another donation of stuffed animals, books and coloring books/crayons. We donated over 250 items. They are always happy to have our donations. Lowell is one of the larger departments that we donate to. Here is a photo from our donation.

In other news, we had a great meeting on Friday about our fashion show- I met with the marketing team at Assembly Row, the event stylist, the event set designer and the head of the fashion retail department at the New England Art Institute- who is helping us by providing their fashion students to run all the backstage details for the fashion show. Everyone is really excited about the event and really committed to making it a success. I think this is going to be the best one that we've ever had! Ticket sales are moving along nicely. We've filled all our spots for models which is great. We have some great marketing partnerships coming up. I'm happy that we're in a good place for the event, but I still get anxious, I get nervous that ticket sales will suddenly dry up and we'll have an amazing show and no one to watch it. I know that won't happen, but still, I worry.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I know this is just a short post, but I have a few work things that I need to catch up on. Until tomorrow friends...

Latest and Greatest

Greetings friends! So what's new? Well, I was on vacation all of last week- went on an exciting trip to Miami and a Caribbean cruise. It was my first time to both places and it was amazing. It was lovely to get away and enjoy seeing somewhere new and spending time at some amazing beaches. It's amazing how wonderfully warm the water is down there! It is such a good thing to take time away from work. It helps give you a different perspective and it is a good time to think about things. I came back feeling excited and inspired. The only downside to coming back is that there is lots and lots to do when you get back. So, I'm trying to catch up and get back on track.

We are only a month away from our spring fashion show. The first major email blast to our Smiling Stiletto members went out today and that generated a nice little bump in ticket sales. I'm still looking for a few more models for the event and we have a few more spots available for sponsorship. We have a great partnership with Yelp for the event. They will be featuring it in their weekly newsletter the week before the event. Yesterday, I filled out the submission form. It took me a while because I wanted to make the posting as catchy as possible. You have to provide a sub headline of 10 words or less along with a paragraph of 100 words describing the event. I kept playing around with a different headline to see which one I would like the best if I was reading the event for the first time. It took me a while today to get the wording right for our email blast for the fashion show. I keep editing- sending sample emails to myself so that I could open it as if I was looking at it for the first time. It is amazing the difference it makes when you send it to yourself. You can keep staring at it when it's in the editing mode, but when you open it as if you were seeing it for the first time it sparks something in the brain. I sent it to myself 5 times and made changes after each time. The events are all so important to us and it takes a lot of work to get people to show up.  Everything needs to be done the best way that I can in order to ensure that we get a great turnout and raise the most money that we can.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to sort a few more stuffed animals that arrived in the mail- there were 16 boxes of stuffed animals waiting for me at the post office when I returned. Then, I need to catch up on a few emails. I had intended on doing some grant research as well, but my eyes are getting tired, so I don't think I'll get to that tonight. Until tomorrow friends...

A Very Special Request

Greetings friends! So I wanted to share with you a request for stuffed animals that we received. It's a request that sums up exactly why we do our work. Last Friday, I received an email from a police sergeant in St. Paul, Alaska. On Monday morning, I received a phone call from the sergeant. He was following up and said that he had found us online and asked for help with a donation of stuffed animals for the children they encounter in their community. He told me that St. Paul was an island located 300 miles off the coast of Alaska. The island only has 1000 residents and a very small police department- I think he said it was only 4 officers. He said that there is an alcohol problem on the island and they go on almost daily calls involving domestic incidents, with most of the calls involving families with children. He said they were in desperate need of some help for the children. The sergeant wanted to be able to give the children a stuffed animal to help comfort them. His email was so touching and his call was just as heart warming. This is exactly why we do our work, so that the people who respond to situations involving children are able to give them an item to comfort them and take some of the fear and anxiety away. It makes me so proud to know that a department so far away wants to be a part of our work and sees the value of giving stuffed animals to the children then encounter. I love hearing from police officers who really care and want to make a difference in the lives of children. It is tough work that they do every day and I am happy to be a part of their efforts to bring a smile to a child.

So tomorrow, I will be packing up stuffed animals with my new intern and zooming down to the post office with them. I'm not sure how many boxes yet, at least three. I also want to add some coloring books/crayons. It's expensive to mail stuffed animals and it's going to cost a lot to send them this island, 300 miles off the coast of Alaska, so if you would like to help with a donation towards the mailing cost, the would be much appreciated! You can make a donation easily with PayPal. Our email address to send a donation through PayPal is: cpisacane@projectsmile.org

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to catch up on some work and start brainstorming some ideas for an exciting event that I'm heading up with DCF. More info to come next week! Until next time friends...

Latest and Greatest

Greetings friends and welcome March! February was a pretty dreadful weather month with all the snow, so I'm happy that we are onto March and hopefully some nicer weather. The days are definitely getting longer and that is always  a good thing. It's been so long since I blogged and I'm happy to be back writing. So what's new? Well, things are chugging along nicely. I am so excited for our 4th Annual Step into Spring fashion show that we are working with Assembly Row on. It is going to be an awesome event on Friday, May 1, 6:30pm. Assembly Row is the new shopping and lifestyle center in Somerville. It is a great place and they have an amazing space for us. It is an open space that will eventually be turned into offices, but right now it is all bare bones, which makes it a phenomenal space for events.  Our sold out events at Copley Place had a max of 120 guests, but Assembly can hold 300 guests. We're also going to be doing a silent auction, can get sponsorship and we will be getting 100% of the proceeds to Project Smile, so that really opens it up to become a major fundraiser for us. I am so happy about that! Assembly is also handling getting their restaurants involved to serve appetizers and desserts along with specialty cocktails to the guests. This makes it even easier for me, because I had to get the food and beverage vendors before. Assembly has some awesome retailers, so we are definitely going to be having terrific fashions.

Danielle Vollmar from News Channel 5, Boston will be hosting the event again for us. She's hosted 2 of our shows before and always does a lovely job. We also have the RevGirls, Miss Massachusetts USA, Miss New Hampshire and Miss Maine USA as special guests along with the Miss Teen USA from each of those 3 states. The founder of UsTrendy, Sam Sisakhti will be returning as a celebrity guest judge for the Best-in-Shoe competition and I'm working on getting some more special guest judges. We're using the same DJ as our past events, he always does a good job. I reached out to our fall show event planner Mauryn and she is meeting with Assembly in order to possibly partner with them to work on the event layout/design. She has an awesome eye for detail, so I hope it works out for them to work together on the event design.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to catch up on some emails and do some more sponsor research. The Step into Spring Show is a wonderful marketing opportunity for sponsors that want to reach women and young professionals. We already have some sponsors on board, but I'm excited to get some more partners for the event. Until tomorrow friends...