East End Fund for Children Partnership With Citarella Enters Fourth Year

As the workday came to a close, kids and community members alike came together in the garden of Citarella’s Bridgehampton location to celebrate another year of fundraising for the East End Fund for Children.

The event, which included speeches, tote bags and a pizza party, was a way to honor the community, its children and the importance of giving back.

On Wednesday, June 12, the leadership team at Citarella hosted a press conference in the store’s back garden to announce its fourth year of partnership with the children’s charity.

The East End Fund for Children, which supports over 3,500 children annually, is an organization that enhances the capacities and programming of seven nonprofits: the Bridgehampton Childcare & Recreation Center, the Children’s Museum of the East End, the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, i-tri, Project MOST, The Retreat and the Southampton Youth Association.

Citarella has partnered with the organization for four years.

“This coalition was built together to amplify each other. There is strength in numbers,” said Diane Forker, Citarella’s marketing manager.

From now through September 9, Citarella is encouraging customers to “round up” their purchases to whatever number they choose — with the amount “rounded up” being donated to the charity. At the end of the summer, all of the funds raised from the roundups will be split between the seven nonprofits.

Citarella also is selling tote bags for the second year in a row with 12 different art prints, made by kids from the different nonprofits, that were chosen by representatives of each group. All proceeds from the bags go directly to the fund.

“This is such a nice partnership for us, because Citarella loves to give back to our community,” Forker said. “This is a great way to do that.”

The event commenced with a speech from Helen Gurrera, the president of Citarella. Gurrera announced the fourth year of the partnership and another roundup campaign to raucous applause.

“I am proud that we are able to make a difference in the lives of local kids and their families,” Gurrera said. “I am grateful to the Citarella team and their ongoing dedication to the East End community.”

Gurrera introduced State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

“Some people think Memorial Day is the start of summer on the East End. I say summer doesn’t start until this event,” Thiele said. “I can’t say enough about all of the organizations that benefit from this. They are all local, community-based, grassroots organizations that serve our children and help our families.”

Thiele urged audience members to participate in the roundup event.

Rebecca Morgan Taylor, the executive director of Project MOST, which offers year-round after-school programs and tutoring for kids, hailed the coalition and the help that Citarella offers to the organizations..

“What a great day this is,” she said. “Today is a gift, much like our collaboration with Citarella.

“We all work together with one goal in mind: to make our children successful in life,” she added. “On behalf of all of the participating organizations, thank you.”

Loretta Davis, executive director of The Retreat, an organization that provides confidential services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, spoke about the customized tote bags. “I have the best job today — to highlight the children and their amazing art,” she said.

The tote bags have been created for the past two years, and each year has had a theme. Last year was self-portraiture. This year’s theme is nature and sea life, which Davis added was a “gesture of thanks to Joe, because he knows fish,” a reference to Joe Gurrera, owner of Citarella.

She also explained that the children from each organization had been “rockstars,” painting rocks to put on display in Citarella’s garden. Citarella store director Lau Zarate gathered the kids and helped them place their painted rocks in the garden.

The evening ended with a big, collective “hooray,” which exemplified the exciting, fun and invigorating spirit of the event.

Community members can support Citarella’s partnership with the East End Fund for Children from now until September 9 by rounding up their purchases at checkout or purchasing a tote bag at any of Citarella’s Hamptons locations.