York Street Project Golf Outing Take Two!

On Monday, October 18th, the York Street Project (YSP) held its 11th Annual Golf Outing at Glen Ridge Country Club in Glen Ridge, NJ. The Outing was initially scheduled to take place on Monday, September 27th and as you may recall, because of the inclement weather Glen Ridge closed their course and forced the re-scheduling.



Although the air was crisp and nippy, a band of 98 brave golfers arrived at the Country Club ready to do battle on the Golf Course. And that is just what they did! The challenging round lasted about 5 hours, and afterwards the golfers gladly returned to the Club House to enjoy the Cocktail Reception.



While the golfers and other guests indulged themselves in an assortment of hand passed hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, a team of persuasive volunteers worked the room to sell Green Auction and 50/50 raffle tickets. The Silent Auction station patiently waited for anyone who dared to approach the table with pen in hand. Shortly before the call was given to sit down for dinner, the Skill Prize winners were announced and each was awarded for their great work.



To make a great day even better, more tasty morsels were prominently displayed in the formal dining room. During dinner, a brief welcome and expressions of thanks were made by YSP’s Executive Director, Susanne Byrne and Board Chair Anne Denyeau. Not long after the greetings were done, the raffle prize drawing got underway. With David Mehr, YSP’s official announcer, at the helm, each lucky winner proudly came up to claim their prize. The finale of the evening came with the announcing of the winner of the 50/50 raffle. And much to everyone’s surprise, the winner of the 50/50graciously donated their winnings back to YSP.



A very special thanks goes to The Haydon Family – Tournament Sponsor of the Event for the 8th consecutive year. Additional thank yous go to our Lunch Sponsors, The George Link Charitable Trust and James Patterson. Other major sponsors include The Denyeau Family, The Russo Group, Jefferies & Company and Dan and Francine McGuire. The York Street Project family is so grateful to these and many other sponsors, supporters and special friends who helped to raise more than $91,000 to help our women and children break the chains of poverty.

Stay tuned for information about YSP’s 12th Annual Golf Outing.

Gettin' Chalky with YSP

What do you get when you have a sunny sky, children armed with chalk, foot stomping music, hot dogs galore, and the coldest Italian Ices this side of Alaska? You guessed right… you get York Street Project’s 12th Annual ChalkFest! This year’s event, held on Friday, July 30th from 12 noon to 2pm at Exchange Place Plaza in Jersey City, raised more than $34,000 to help women and children break the chains of poverty.



Once again, the children of The Nurturing Place along with their invited guests, The Waterfront Montessori School, took over The Plaza and created a chalk menagerie of animals, sea creatures, and practically anything that they could think of. The artwork was simply amazing!

All of the children, teachers and volunteers were clad in their official teal green ChalkFest t-shirts, transforming The Plaza into a beautiful rolling greenish blue Caribbean sea.



The musical tunes were provided by York Street’s own DJ “Big Ben”. Fun face painting designs were done by Anays Cartagena. New to the scene this year was Micky Magic who entertained the young and old with his delightful magical illusions.



Other special attractions at this year’s ChalkFest included the Balloon Pop Dart game. At $5.00 for 3 darts, if you were a good shot, you could have easily walked away with 3 cool prizes! Across The Plaza from the Balloon Pop Dart game was the new Blank Check game. This game was instituted to help promote public awareness to the true cost of living on a limited income.



Overall, a super day was had by all including the more than 500 lunchtime patrons who attended the event. A special thank you goes to Fidelity Investments, our Title Sponsor for the sixth consecutive year, and to Pershing for their Challenger Sponsorship. We also would like to thank Porky Products and Tropicana/Dole Beverages for their in-kind donations and a host of other local businesses and supporting sponsors for contributing to the success of the 12th Annual ChalkFest.



Mark your calendar to meet us on The Plaza for York Street Project’s 13th Annual ChalkFest on Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 12noon. See ya then!

Rising Above Adversity

Like the Lotus flower, the women and children of the York Street Project (YSP) overcome immense obstacles as they emerge from the murky depths of despair to a brilliant new life. This theme was the foundation of the 21st Annual Spring Event that was held on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at the JPMorgan Conference Center. The event was a great success and raised more than $108,000 to support our life-changing programs. It was attended by approximately 250 friends and supporters.



Latania Cobb, a former St. Joseph’s Home resident who graduated from Kenmare High School and whose children attended The Nurturing Place, was this year’s guest speaker. Her journey has not been as easy one, but with the help of YSP friends and donors, she was given the opportunity to blossom when she walked through the doors of YSP.



In addressing the theme as it compared to her life, Ms. Cobb shared the following sentiments with the guests, “Growing in up in Jersey City, life was full of possibilities but because of poverty, family structure, drugs, and a lack of education the possibilities for me were in a box. I lived with my mom and my oldest sister. For many years, my mother was addicted to drugs and she died at the age of 32; I was only 13 at the time. Because of the lack of information in my home, in the school system, and me making bad choices, I became pregnant at the age 13 and by the age 15, I had two children both of whom died December 27, 1992 in a fire. I was burnt over 33% of my body, wasn’t able to attend the funeral.



I was lost, confused, hopeless and helpless. I did not know where to turn. I had family members who did the best that they could with the information that they had. I was not taught how to cope. My way of coping was to use drugs; I used drugs to help me cope with life’s tragedies. It became very easy to do what everyone was doing. I did not have that true value of loving oneself, life and community.”

During her speech, Ms. Cobb told how the York Street Project programs changed her life for the better. “My first year at the Home, I was an angry and thought the world owed me something. The Sisters at the York Street Project took their time to help me, nurture me and exposed me to many different adventures; the first thing that was done was that I signed up for Kenmare High school. It was difficult because I stopped attending school in the 7th grade but the teachers at Kenmare helped me and inspired me to be all I that I could be. I was able to participate in different classroom activities such as reading, black literature, math, social studies and science, computers and dance. It was then that I began to grasp the many different concepts of learning.”



Her powerful closing remarks continued to hold the audience captive, “It was here at York Street Project that the foundation of my life was being formed. We were being introduced to a new way of life, I was given real values and traditions that now I can follow to help me live a spiritual way of life. The Sisters of York Street raised me and they did a great job. They awakened my spirit; they awakened me to life. My daughter and I had stability and a safe haven. They brought true meaning to parenting; they provided me with the skills and tools that I needed to become a good mom, and a productive member of society.”

Today Ms. Cobb holds a B.S. in Public Policy and Urban Studies from Saint Peter’s College, and she currently is working toward earning her Masters degree in Management.

Special thanks to our major sponsors: JPMorgan Chase, Gerry & Regina McGraw, Daniel & Francine McGuire; Morgan Stanley Smith Barney; and all other sponsors for helping to make this another wonderful night to remember why—and how—a place like the York Street Project exists.