Get Prepared A Pop Up Tennis Court docket Is Coming To Occasions Sq.

Nick Mayo, Main Items and Deliberate Giving Officer; Mo Fenninger, Growth Analytics Affiliate; and Jack Noseworthy, Particular person Giving Officer congratulate Craig on profitable the Helen Hayes portrait.

Broadway Cares makes desires come true.

The primary time I noticed Helen Hayes was after I was 10 years previous within the movie Airport. It was Hollywood’s first huge title catastrophe movie. Sure, it starred Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin and Jacqueline Bisset amongst others; however my mother and father have been most enthusiastic about seeing Helen Hayes. I had no concept who she was and so they defined that she was the First Woman of the American Theater. Properly, when the girl did her comedian take as an aged stowaway I used to be received over. Forty years later, I went to a charity gala for the Ginghold Theater Firm on the historic Gamers Membership and noticed Ms. Hayes’ portrait on the wall of their principal ballroom. Prominently displayed with excellent lighting it was an acceptable tribute to the Membership’s first feminine member. Seeing that portrait, I needed to be part of the Gamers and I did.

Ms Hayes was not solely a well-respected theatrical actress, she is in truth the second individual and first lady to be an EGOT winner (in reality she is an EGOOTTT winner with a number of awards!) She has a Broadway Theater named after her in addition to a medical middle in West Haverstraw, NY which simply makes it extra acceptable that her picture has not directly helped elevate cash for Broadway Cares. She and Broadway Cares are each so vital to well being care and every of their efforts have improved the lives and well being of 1000’s of people all through the nation.

I’ve been a supporter of Broadway Cares for years as a donor, proponent, pink bucket holder and in 2021 ran the NY Marathon to boost cash for them. I raised over $10,000 by operating which made me prouder than finishing the 26.2 miles run.

So how did Broadway Cares make a dream come true for me? Their annual Flea Market was held in Occasions Sq. on Sunday, October 1. There are articles and press releases earlier than and after the flea market and the way a lot cash is raised for the group; however, I wish to share a firsthand expertise of what it’s wish to bid on their public sale objects.

I often attend and have truly purchased some great objects over time. Images of two different legends of the theater, Marian Seldes and Elaine Stritch, are hanging prominently on the partitions of my residence. This 12 months I used to be not in New York for the public sale however I used to be in a position to bid on the silent public sale on-line.  A print of the portrait of Helen Hayes was Merchandise 187 on the checklist. After I first noticed that it was “THE PORTRAIT” I couldn’t consider it after which I seemed on the description. It was truly signed by Ms Hayes and the painter, Furman J Finck, and it was numbered 6 of 202 prints. My hand shook over the outline as I seemed on the picture on my laptop computer display. Opening bid was $25 and nobody had bid but. What have been folks ready for? Did folks actually not know who Helen Hayes was? It was solely September 20 so possibly potential bidders have been enjoying it cool. Both manner I bid $100, anticipating to be instantly out bid as quickly as I clicked the enter button. Shockingly it took 2 days for somebody to lastly outbid me at $105. One week later the bidding solely hit $400 and I used to be tied with another person. The web bid was closing on Friday at 5 after which going to a reside public sale on Sunday between 3 and three:30 so I knew that there can be time for different potential bidders to lastly understand who HELEN HAYES (sure I imply to place her title in caps) was so I raised my absentee bid to $1,746 ( a quantity with no relevance however one which I anticipated had no relevance for anybody else) so there it was and now I needed to wait.

It was an extended wait as a result of it was not till Tuesday that I used to be notified that I had received! It was truly throughout the intermission of the West Finish manufacturing of Sundown Blvd that I acquired the e-mail. I felt it so acceptable that I used to be seeing a play a few silent display star as I used to be being notified that I simply received a portrait of an actual silent display star.

The thrill of bidding at a Broadway Cares public sale is actually coronary heart pounding. Will I get it? Am I bidding too little, an excessive amount of as my finger quivers over the ship key? And the enjoyment of truly profitable is great however nonetheless doesn’t examine to the satisfaction that the little cash I simply spent goes to a worthy trigger. My profitable bid was solely $600, far lower than what I had anticipated and only a small portion of the record-breaking $1,237,179 that the Flea Market and Public sale raised this 12 months. Let’s make that quantity $1,238,179, as a result of the quantity I used to be going to pay was $1,000 greater than what I did so I’ll as nicely donate the distinction to the trigger.

Thanks Broadway Cares for making a dream come true and for serving to the 1000’s of individuals across the nation by sending cash to foodbanks and healthcare amenities.

Broadway Cares/Fairness Fights AIDS is the foremost supporter of the social service applications on the Leisure Group Fund (previously The Actors Fund), together with the HIV/AIDS Initiative, The Friedman Well being Heart for the Performing Arts and the Phyllis Newman Girls’s Well being Initiative. Broadway Cares additionally awards annual grants to greater than 450 AIDS and household service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., offering lifesaving medicine, wholesome meals, counseling, and emergency help.