MORRISTOWN — The Jersey Battered Women’s Service is gearing up for its third annual Old Bags® Luncheon fundraiser to be held on Tuesday, October 6, at Spring Brook Country Club in Morristown. Event doors open at 11:00 a.m. and lunch will be served at 12:15. Individual tickets cost $100.00.
“Despite the name ‘Old Bags®,’ there is nothing frumpy about it,” says Joen Ferrari of Morris Township, Honorary Chair for the event. “Guests will have the opportunity to bid on 250 diverse and interesting collections of new and like-new vintage and brand-name bags that they will love to claim as their own or give to someone special.”
Bags, such as the beautiful, new Kate Spade New York Cedar Street Maise donated by Kate Spade New York in North Bergen will be included in the silent and live auctions.
“It is exciting to see the diverse spectrum of donations, hundreds of gorgeous high-end handbags resurrected from closets as auction items,” remarks Old Bags® founder Eileen Cornacchia. “The logistics are amazingly simple. That is why the Old Bags® fundraiser concept has been phenomenally successful for many of the nation’s most prominent charities.”
“We are grateful to the volunteer committee, led by Linda Horn of Randolph, who has worked so hard over the past year to find the finest bags,” says JBWS executive director Patricia Sly of Chester. “This unique fundraiser is a win-win for everyone. Women in the community feel good about donating a bag for a good cause; the luncheon guests feel good about going home with a new bag at a great price; and most of all, everyone feels good about raising funds to help victims of domestic violence become safe and self-sufficient.”
Jersey Battered Women’s Service’s goal is to raise $50,000 to support its many services to assist families hurting from domestic violence, including a 24-hour helpline, crisis counseling, emergency safe house, legal assistance, transitional living, vocational counseling, and more.
“Freeing oneself from an abusive and controlling partnering is just one challenge our clients face, explains Sly. “Becoming financially independent and living on one’s own is another.”
At JBWS, the journey toward self-sufficiency is eased significantly through the help of specialized counselors who address the emotional and financial control from an ex-partner.
The research-based curriculum used by JBWS shows that at the end of the course, 90% of participants were able to create a budget, 86% could set financial goals, and 71 % knew how to invest in savings, bonds, stocks and mutual funds – as opposed to 17% prior to the course.
“In other words,” explains Patricia Sly, “we want to be sure that, in the words of Susan B. Anthony, every woman has a purse of her own.”
For additional information about the Old Bags Luncheon® and to purchase tickets online, click here. For more information, contact jbws.obl@gmail.com. For help for yourself or someone you know, please call the confidential helpline (973) 267-4763.
About Jersey Battered Women’s Service
From its grass-roots beginnings, Jersey Battered Women’s Service Inc. (JBWS) in Morris County opened its shelter doors to the New Jersey communities in late December 1978. Now, JBWS has more than 65 paid staff and 120 volunteers who work together with the help of the community to fulfill the agency mission. The mission of JBWS is the prevention of domestic violence through the protection and empowerment of the victim, the rehabilitation of family members, the advocacy of social reform to prevent partner violence, and the education of the public about domestic violence and its consequences. JBWS services include a 24-hour hotline, counseling, safe house, transitional living, children’s services, life skills education, vocational counseling, batterer’s intervention, legal assistance, teen dating violence services, and professional training, education and youth prevention programs. JBWS’s vision is to create a community-wide culture that refuses to tolerate the presence of any form of family or partner violence. For more information, please click here.
