We knew that this year’s Teddy Bear Suite was something special. I don’t know if it was the new hotel room — or I should say actual suite — at the Harbor View Hotel, or the new mascot, Chappy, or the commemorative bears, but our second year shattered my expectations!
The Martha’s Vineyard Teddy Bear Suite raised over $7,500 for the Martha’s Vineyard Boys & Girls Club — $7,615 to be exact. That’s more than double last year’s $3,000!!! It felt great giving this check to the Boys & Girls Club last week.
After School Program
Where’s that money going? Why to the Boys & Girls Club’s After School Program of course. That amount of money is going to buy a lot of supplies, including paint and art supplies, school supplies, healthy snacks, sports equipment, and even help get special tutors for helping kids with homework. With 300 members, there are a lot of Island kids that participate in this invaluable program. It keeps a large number of kids in a safe place after school. You have to feel good about supporting that!
How We Raised the Money
Of course we have to thank our partner, the Harbor View Hotel. Without them, there would be no Teddy Bear Suite, and what an amazing room they provided us with this year. And with their help, we were able to raise that $7,615, which is a lot of money. Much of that money came from online donations and our fabulous raffle items.
This year’s raffle items included jewelry from Stefanie Wolf and Rebeccah J, a cool Edgartown Zip Code Pillow from Bespoke Abode, a signed picture of New England Patriot Sebastian Vollmer, and our Island Restaurant Extravaganza which was the most popular — nine gift certificates to Island restaurants including Atria, Slice of Life, Offshore Ale, Cafe Moxie, the Wharf, Art Cliff Diner, Henry’s, Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Company, and Lucky Hank’s. We owe all these businesses a big thanks — they were instrumental in helping us make this year’s event so successful.
New for this year, we had adorable commemorative bears to take home at the Teddy Bear Suite. For a donation of $10 or more at the Teddy Bear Suite, one of these cute, fuzzy friends could go home with you. They were a big hit with the little ones, and brought a lot of smiles to those who stopped by. The bears sold out and we plan to make this a new part of the Martha’s Vineyard Teddy Bear Suite — a new commemorative bear each year.
The amount of online donations and checks we received was amazing. There were so many people who were not able to visit the Teddy Bear Suite, but believed in it supported — the After School Program — gave generously to this beary fun event. This year, we started the online donations earlier and kept them going all the way until Christmas. Extending this opportunity, definitely helped us out!
We have so many to thank for their online donations: Steve & Sarah Church, Susan & Keith Bass, Jane Kuttner, Christie Johnson, Graysen & Barrett Bass, Peter & Bethany Lambos, Richard & Denise Lambos, Ezra Sherman, Sandra & Gordon Harman, Christine Thompson-Colbert, Martin Davis, Gordon Harman, 
Elizabeth Baker, Donna Keane, Michael Baker, Joy Harriman, Joseph DiRico, James Rice, Josephine Angevin, Cynthia & Todd Steckbeck, Guinevere & Matthew Cramer, Courtney & Andy Cherna, Christopher Hall, Harold Chapdelaine, Carol Cady, Stephen Olsson, Carol & Michael Vaughn, John Baker, Gloria & George Sacco, David & Yvette Killian, Kirby Thorne Doyle, Lisa Angelini-Adams, Wendy Bernero, Nicholas Paul, Tom Podmajersky, Pam Fuller & Tom Haddad, John Wolff, and of course Wendy Harman & Win Baker. So much support for this one event, I don’t think I can really express how grateful we are.
Volunteers Make It Fun & Possible
Of course we have to thank those who gave their time to help make the Teddy Bear Suite a success: Danielle Bailey, Cassidy Ward, Amy Houghton, Posie Haeger, and our Boys & Girls Club parents, kids and
board members who helped with the raffle table, Abby Leighton, Sarah and Katherine Cuthbert, Kelly Cleary, Lisa Hagg & Aiden and Martina Nunes, Liz Burnham & Manuel Hernandez-Burnman, Susan and John Habekost, Nancy Kelly, Stephanie Burke, and Jean & Hunter Cleary.
bThere were also those who helped us promote the Teddy Bear Suite in the Edgartown Christmas Parade, which include, Sasha Lakis, Michelle, Keenan, Charlotte, and baby Reardon Delaney, Christine Conley & Ada Rye and Matt Coffey, Veronika & Hannah Buckley, Whitney Burke & Emery, Bo, and Keith Fullin, Joan & Addison Shemit, Alexandra & Nicholas Rego and…….. All of these people gave so much of themselves and their time. We could not have done it without them.
The Teddy Bear Suite was a wonderful way to help celebrate the holidays and Christmas in Edgartown. SO
much joy was brought to people by all those bears in suite 201 at the Harbor View Hotel. It was so much fun to see the kids, big and small, and people old and young, enjoy the magic of the Teddy Bear Suite where some unforgettable holiday memories were made. Thank you again to all those who supported this fun-filled event. If you missed it this year, mark you calendars for the 32nd Christmas in Edgartown, December 13th-15th, 2013.
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