On September 14th, Project Play held a fund-raising breakfast. A stellar array of prominent business leaders, elected officials and community members attended to hear the Project Play presentation and donate money to replace and install new play equipment in Church Square Park, one of the most popular parks in the Mile Square.
We thanked former Mayor David Roberts for his hard work and dedication to Project Play. Six months ago Mayor Roberts didn't know our names. We literally cold-called and introduced ourselves and the project. We chatted a few times, had a meeting and walked through Church Square Park. From there, Dave made countless calls, inviting Hoboken's most influential business leaders to join us for breakfast.
To date, over 150 business have donated in large and small ways to Project Play. We recognized several of these generous people and businesses who helped us gain momentum. Eugene Flinn of Elysian Cafe donated his space and the food for the breakfast. We thanked Club H, where we held two very successful fund-raisers, Liberty Realty & Properties by Southern for believing in this project enough to be our first big Corporate sponsor, Jennifer & Mac Hartshorn of Hartshorn Portraiture for donating their time and services and for attending almost every event we held, Ariele's Apothecary for being the first business to suggest, organize and execute an event on our behalf (followed by several other generous businesses such as Hudson Dance & Movement, Devotion Yoga, Mile Square Theatre, and Zylo restaurant). We also recognized Alicia Warburton for her amazing work almost single handedly organizing the Spinathon, which is our highest grossing event to date!
Beyond the business community, other social and civic groups within the City have made significant contributions to Project Play. The Hoboken Elysianettes Running Society have taken the initiative to organize the upcoming HoBOOkeen Halloween 5K on October 30th. A big "thank you" also went out to Hudson Honda for their very generous donation to this event. We also thanked Hoboken Volunteers for organizing an Oktoberfest on October 16th at the Elks Club that Project Play will benefit from.
Project Play would be nowhere without the support of Mayor Dawn Zimmer. Mayor Zimmer was in attendance and applauded our efforts and pledged her continued support. We thanked Director of Environmental Services Jennifer Maier for her tireless work and support and guidance throughout the process. We also thanked Freeholder, Captain Anthony Romano, Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, and Councilman Nino Giacchi for their encouragement and support from the inception of the idea to revive the ailing Church Square Park, to their support of this fund-raising event.
Finally, we thanked David Liebler of EatDrinkHoboken.com for his unique and creative fund raising idea (see below), merging business with philanthropy.
Project Play is honored and humbled by the incredible outpouring of support and financial contributions from local businesses, residents, as well as other non-profit and civic organizations. It is a beautiful testament to the amazing community that we live in. Thank you to everyone who has donated their time, services, and money to this important community initiative.
Photos courtesy Joe Epstein (click to enlarge)