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AUCTION
EVENT RAISES OVER $33,000 FOR
(HARTFORD,
CT, October 21, 2003) … Breaking the Cycle’s, first benefit event,
“Gold Star Gala – Successes in Teen Pregnancy Prevention” raised over $33,000
to help fund the organization’s initiatives, organization officials announced
today. The event
featured a silent auction with over 50 different packages including jewelry,
restaurant gift certificates, entertainment and sporting packages, and a live
auction conducted by former Hartford mayor Mike Peters.
The most popular auction item, a week’s accommodation at any of 3000
vacation time-share facilities world-wide and two domestic airline tickets,
generated an enthusiastic bidding war and eventually sold for $2,100.
The event also featured presentations by youth participants from Breaking
the Cycle programs. “We are
delighted to achieve such excellent results for a first-year event”, said
Lizabeth Zlatkus, CFO at Hartford Life, who headed the event planning committee.
“It demonstrates a firm commitment from many area individuals and
organizations to Hartford’s future,” she said. “We could not have achieved
this success without the hard work and dedication of our event planning
committee members, whose energy and resourcefulness went above and beyond the
call of duty,” she added. The Hartford
was the event’s primary sponsor. Other sponsors included: Advest; Day, Berry
& Howard; Faith Congregational Church; Helen Frye; Hartford Hospital; Lebon
Press; Lee Hecht Harrison; Doug and Mary Russell; St. Francis Hospital &
Medical Center and The Travelers. Ramani Ayer, Chairman and CEO of the Hartford,
was honorary chair of the event. Founded in
1995, Breaking the Cycle is a community partnership of the City of
Hartford, the Hartford Action Plan on Infant Health and the Hartford Public
Schools. In Hartford the year
before Breaking the Cycle began, 727 teens gave birth -- over 28 percent
of the births in the city during 1994. Twenty-nine of those births were to teens
under age 15. By the year 2000, births to teens in Hartford decreased to 482.
For more information about Breaking the Cycle’s teen pregnancy
prevention initiatives, visit www.teenpregnancyhartford.org. ### |