On Wednesday, New Yorkers for Children hosted their 16th Annual Fall Gala at Cipriani to benefit youth in foster care.
New Yorkers for Children strives to improve the lives of those under the child welfare system in providing scholarships and programs aimed to aid in the transition to adulthood, these include: the Back to School Program, Guardian Scholars Program, Youth Advisory Board, and Futures in Motion Program. Co-chairs, Honorary Chairs, and Committee members attended the event along with other notable guests. The event program consisted of a dinner, cocktails with casino games, and a live auction fundraiser. We had the chance to speak with some of the notable attendees at the event:
Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos:
Well I’ve been on the board for New Yorkers for Children for about 17 years now. It means so much to me because we help the 11,000 kids in foster care in New York City today and we provide many programs and resources for them to get into college and apply to college. We help them with internships and mentorship opportunities and we get them back to school packages which is something that most kids might take for granted because their parents take care of them. We help them out with those kinds of resources like laptops, phone cards, sheets and pillows. What’s really incredible is that these kids respond so incredibly to those resources because they’re not used to having adults caring for them and sometimes it’s that emotional help that they get that helps them get to the next step and we’re basically helping them one step at a time achieve their goals and become happy, cultured adults.
I’ve mentored kids myself directly, and the ones that I’ve mentored are successful now and helping other people and becoming humanitarians and it’s just really incredible. Also, we’re going to have 19 youth ambassadors with us tonight. These kids don’t have parents that many of us take for granted, you can have money and you can have fame but if you don’t have a family, that’s how they feel so we try to be their family.
Nicholas Scoppetta, Founder:
Well you know we support children in foster care. We’ve raised a lot of money for programs for those young people, most of them who are aging out of the system. Without some help, it would be a difficult future they would have. I was in foster care myself so it really resonates with me and I can identify with what they’re going through. We have raised over 50 million dollars in the last 20 years or so for those programs so this is a very important event for that reason. It is the principle fundraiser we have each year.
Lise Evans:
Well it means a lot to me, I’m on the board of New Yorkers for Children. What New Yorkers for Children does for foster children is just outstanding, the support they give the children in every way, whether it’s help with schoolwork or emotional issues. It’s a very hands on organization, it doesn’t relate to me in any other except that I have one of my children that would have gone to foster care if I didn’t take her in.
Sylvester Miniter:
This is one of the most important causes there is, taking care of the children. Dayssi Kanavos got this really going many years ago and it means an awful lot for foster children. We love this and always come to this and always support it, it’s about one of the most important things we do.
The event was sponsored by Chloe.
