Power of the Purse Benefits Girls, Inc. Westchester
We live in a world where women still make less money than man, and there are those who are trying to teach the next generation that they can achieve all that want if they just believe it can be so.
The White Plains-based Girls, Inc. Westchester inspires over 400 girls each year to be “Strong, Smart and Bold.” On Wednesday, Oct. 5, a sold-out crowd attended the Power of the Purse gala at Life the Place to Be in Ardsley to benefit the organization.
The highlight of the evening was the auctioning off of 11 one-of-a –kind purses that were donated by designers and created based on the muse of successful women who for the evening were known as “purse-o-nalities.”
The Purse-o-nalities were Sharon Epperson, a correspondent for CNBC, Nanette Bourbe, senior vice president and managing director of AKRF,Inc, state Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, Jan Adelson, co-owner of Adelson Galleries, Laurel Garcia Colvin, a Chappaqua-based visual artist, Dr. Janet Taylor, a community psychiatrist from Chappaqua, Eileen Fisher, a fashion designer, Dr. Kimberly R. Cline, president of Mercy College, Kym Hampton, a retired-professional basketball player, Jody Rollins, senior vice president, Chubb & Son and award-winning journalist Jean Chatzky, who is the financial editor for NBC’s “Today Show.”
“The 2011 Purse-o-nalities and designers are an outstanding group of people,” said Sally Baker, executive director for Girls, Inc. Westcheseter. “They are doctors, artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, politicians, athletes and more. They win awards, hold patents, travel the world, lead universities, support non-profits and earn degree, after degree, after degree. Their lives and their careers represent everything we believe our girls can achieve.”
The purses which were auctioned off for in between $500 and $1,400 a piece were modeled by girls who participated in the Girls Inc. program. As the girls modeled their bags they spoke about what their dreams were. One wanted to be a doctor another wanted to be an astronaut, but it was Margaret Herring of White Plains who was really able to epitomize the reason everyone was there.
“I want to be the first person in my family to go to college,” she said. “The people at Girls Inc. inspire me to be strong, smart and bold. They teach me to be the best person I can be while always leaving room for improvement.”
At the gala it was the girls who inspired the affluent people in the crowd and left them in awe.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.