Southampton Fresh Air Home Brings Its Best For The 26th Decorators-Designers-Dealers

It was 1993 when Southampton Fresh Air Home board member Cathy di Montezemolo decided that the nonprofit organization’s fundraising strategy needed a serious makeover.

Up until then, Fresh Air Home, which has provided an inclusive environment for children with physical disabilities since 1901, hosted a rummage sale at Southampton High School to fundraise for its summer camp to ensure no child would be turned away.

Ms. di Montezemolo, who was well known among the fashion industry as well as East End society, worked closely with Barbara Moller, who was also involved with the organization, to develop a more upscale tag sale, which came to be known as the Decorators-Designers-Dealers benefit and auction that has marked the start of the summer season ever since.

“The tradition has remained,” Fresh Air Home Design and Decoration Chairman Ann Grimm said. “For everyone involved, this is a labor of love for our campers—they remain our inspiration.”

The annual event, which will be held this year on Saturday, June 2, attracts guests from the East End and beyond to marvel at a designer show house featuring donated luxury home furnishings available for purchase. This year’s sale will include more than 12 rooms filled with rare antiques, as well as gently-used and new items such as designer furniture, lamps, paintings, framed prints, fabrics and decorative accessories. Items are expected to sell quickly, said event Co-chairman Tania Higgins. “Our guests start to line up earlier in the day to have first dibs on all of the amazing donated furniture,” she explained.

Following the showcase are live, silent and wine auctions, which can also be accessed online so those who aren’t able to attend the event have the opportunity to place bids.

Auction items this year include tickets to TV tapings such as “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” “The View,” “Dr. Oz” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers”; a one-week stay at a Villa in Italy; a travel package to the Caribbean; golf outings at East End golf courses; prints by photographer Arthur Elgort and interior designer Thom Filicia; as well as gift certificates to several restaurants in the Hamptons and New York City. In between all the buying and bidding, guests can enjoy specialty hor d’oeuvres and cocktails.

Decorators-Designers-Dealers—one of the two major fundraising events Fresh Air Home hosts annually—plays an essential role in supporting the organization’s summer camp and year-round programming, which include day trips, life skills labs and recreational weekends for campers and alumni.

“All the proceeds from the event go directly to providing a summer camp experience for 150 children with physical disabilities who arrive just three weeks after the event,” Fresh Air Home President Kirsten Solsvig Galef said. “The results are immediate.”

With so many different events happening on the East End this time of year, Fresh Air Home knows it has to keep its premier fundraiser updated and fresh.

“This year is very special because the event will take place in our brand new main building, a major capital improvement project we started in September,” Ms. Solsvig Galef explained. “The new building marks the completion of a five-year plan to revitalize the campus and we are extremely proud of the results.”

After 117 years, the sleepaway camp nestled in the heart of Southampton has become a symbol of how the East End community comes together to help and support one another.

“It serves as a beacon, symbolizing the spirit of generosity, humanity and philanthropy of both year-round and summer East End residents,” Decorators-Designers-Dealers Co-chairman Raya Knight said. “The camp has, in fact, come to represent the East End community at its best—setting the highest standards of giving and philanthropy that others aspire to achieve.”

The 26th annual Decorators-Designers-Dealers Sale and Auction will take place Saturday, July 2, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at Southampton Fresh Air Home located at 36 Barkers Island Road in Southampton. Tickets for guests up to 25 years of age are $150, and general admission tickets start at $250. Call 631-283-5847 or visit sfah.org to purchase tickets and for more information.