CAPTION: Advent School prepares for its annual fundraiser with help from Rugg Road's Cassandra McIntyre.

Advent school prepares for its annual fundraiser with help from super organized merchant mom
Photo of Cassandra McIntyre. Hope to get photos, but they haven’t sent any yet.
By Sandra Miller
It seems there’s always someone going up and down Beacon Hill commercial districts looking for a donation for some worthwhile charity. But the Advent School’s annual fundraiser has a professional working the beat - a Charles Street business owner who understands how to convince local businesses to donate to a good cause even during an economic downturn.
“Raising money for the school is really different this year, with the economic climate,” said Cassandra McIntyre, owner of Rugg Road, who is in her third year of raising money for the school where her daughter, second-grader Lillian, has been going since pre-school. “A lot of businesses get asked over and over again, and I’m one of those businesses.”
McIntyre is co-chair of the March 28 fundraiser with fellow mom Diane Woolf. From McIntyre’s experience, most area businesses in the past would be happy to donate to almost any cause that walked in the door. “We used to have a policy to never say no,” she said. “It just generates some really good will. As a business owner of a small business, I don’t make a huge amount of money, but my business can certainly give gift certificates and products. Usually, it generates repeat business.”
And so McIntyre as a merchant has been using her business relationships to convince others to keep donating gift certificates, auction items, and other items that would help ease the cost of the annual event. This week she just scored Harpoon, which is donating the event’s beer.
“Cassandra is the most organized benefit chair I’ve ever worked with,” said Director of Development and Communications Suzanna Schell. “It’s also great to have someone in retail because she knows what the other side is like when you go to solicit.”
It’s also harder to get parents to volunteer to solicit, because of their empathy with businesses impacted by the economy, but Advent parents are still hoping their enthusiasm for the unique private school’s curriculum is infectious, in time for the Advent’s March 28 upcoming fundraiser at the Hotel Marlowe.
The Advent’s annual spring benefit supports the school's mission and programs, including financial aid, faculty travel, special curricular projects and field trips, and other program enhancements. Organizers are aiming for $125,000 this year, up from last year’s $120,000 gross.
The program will include both silent and live auctions, and features local comedian and Advent parent Tony V as guest host and auctioneer. “He’s absolutely hilarious as an auctioneer,” said McIntyre. “He gets people to bid even higher.”
“I really love the Advent’s curriculum,” said McIntyre, of the school’s Reggio Emilia approach to childhood education. “They sort of trick the kids into learning in an organic way, like when the arts teacher would take them to the Public Garden to study fronds. They didn’t get that they weren’t there to just have fun. I recall asking my daughter, ‘Lily, what did you learn today?’ Lily said, ‘We really don’t learn, we play.’ I like that engaging way of learning through playing.”
The school educates 173 students, 26 percent who are on financial aid. Like in all independent schools, tuition doesn’t cover all the costs for a school, Schell said. “If we have a healthy fundraising program, it keeps tuition from rising too much.”
“The Spring Benefit is a key component of our fund-raising program, and we are deeply grateful for the generosity of the many businesses and individuals who have donated goods and services in support of our school,” said Schell. “We are a small school but we have a small international flavor. It’s an important part of our mission the reason why we do this benefit is to support the school. Parents love this school, and we really want it to thrive.”
Last summer, kindergarten teacher Yvonne Liu-Constant and art teacher George Anastos traveled to Nanjing, China, for the First International Conference on Children's Art Education. Their trip was supported in part by the Spring Benefit. The trip also inspired the China theme for the event, which will feature Chinese food made by the Marlowe chef, who formerly worked for Pho Republique. The event also includes a cocktail hour and live and silent auctions that, in the past, donated auction items have included vacations in Vermont, Disney World, and Colorado, Red Sox tickets, and local gift certificates. One of the more popular auction items are the art projects created by students, said Schell.
The nearly 50-year-old school invites current families and alumni, faculty and staff, and Advent partners, but really, it’s one of the few adult events that parents can enjoy with the school.
McIntyre has loved working the event because, at first, it helped her to get to know other parents pretty quickly, and she enjoys being involved with her child’s school. “It’s a great learning experience to pull off a big event,” she said. “It’s also a lot of work.”
Which is why this is her third and last year as co-chair. “I don’t want to take this experience away from other parents,” she said.

While its voice too often goes unheard, Common Art gives the city’s homeless a unique means to express themselves and the opportunity to tap into hidden talent.
“It was an idea that sprung up from the homeless community itself,” said program director, Mary Eaton. “It came from conversations with people on the street who said they wanted a place of creativity. You can imagine if you’re homeless and carrying all your worldly possessions in a backpack, it’s difficult to carry paints, easels and [other art supplies].”
Common Art is a program of the Newbury Street-based Ecclesia Ministries that was launched 10 years ago in conjunction with St. John the Evangelist Church on Bowdoin Street. Established by the Rev. Deborah W. Little in 1994, Ecclesia provides a religious community for the homeless and holds regular Sunday services at the Boston Common fountain.
Every Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Emmanuel Church on Arlington Street donates its parish hall for Common Art, while Ecclesia provides materials, food and support for the roughly 60 participants. “We provide space, tools and a supportive community,” Eaton said, adding that the program also receives financial support from St. Cecilia’s Parish in the Back Bay.
Among the mediums used in the program are acrylic painting, watercolors, pen and ink, knitting, beading and stained glass. Eaton said she has seen some truly unique artists emerge during her two years with Common Art.
One homeless man took an innovative approach to watercolors when he began using postcards depicting Boston cityscapes as his canvases. Not only were the materials small and portable enough to carry easily, but he was also able to work from his shelter bed.
“He was trying to stay sober and put all his energy into his watercolors,” Eaton said. “He became a really amazing artist.”
The Common Art experience has also resulted in forming friendships between participants that might not otherwise be possible on the street.
“There’s a different atmosphere that comes with creativity,” Eaton said. “When you’re sitting at a table painting and someone else is making jewelry, there is a unique connection, regardless of the turmoil happening outside the building.”
At an open house this Saturday, newcomers from all backgrounds will have a chance to meet the Common Artists and to support them by purchasing their work.
“Meeting every Wednesday is convenient for the people of the street, but it’s inconvenient for other curious individuals,” Eaton said. “We’re doing this on a Saturday so more people can see what it’s like.”
Visitors will also be able to give hand-on support by creating their own art that will be sold to benefit the program at a soon-to-be-announced spring fundraiser featuring a performance by Boston band Jim’s Big Ego.
Eaton added the mission of Common Art and Ecclesia is twofold: to provide pastoral services for the homeless community, and to “bridge the gap between the housed and the homeless.”
“Inviting people to the open house fulfills the second part of our mission,” she said.
Common Art presents its open house at the studio in Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St., on Saturday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church is located one block from the Arlington Street MBTA Stop on the Green Line. This event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. For more information, call 617-347-8582 or visit www.ecclesia-ministries.org.

CAPTION: Virgil Aiello, owner of DeLuca’s Markets.

As the owner of DeLuca’s Markets on Newbury and Charles streets, Virgil Aiello had no intention of expanding his already extensive selection of gourmet meats and fish, cheeses, breads and prepared food to include a new line of handmade cookies until he tasted a lemon-orange treat from Connecticut one month ago.
“The frosting had a light lemony flavor, with just enough sugar,” Aiello said. “They were the finest quality I’ve ever had. They were as good as the best cookies I’ve tasted in Italy and reminded me of the ones my grandmother made when I was a boy.”
In February, Aiello received an unexpected package at his Beacon Hill store containing eight biscotti del limone cookies and a note from the chef, Ricki Hellner of Avon, Conn. In the letter, Hellner explained how after raising two sons and working in publishing for more than 24 years, she made an abrupt career change and launched Avon-based Haiku’s Luscious Cookies in the fall of 2008. (Haiku takes its name from Hellner’s 9-year-old mustang, which she rescued at 17 months old). Soon afterwards, Aiello called Hellner to thank her, and she quickly convinced him that Haiku’s cookies would be a worthwhile addition to DeLuca’s.
“The handcrafted quality of my cookies seemed like something that [DeLuca’s customers] would find appealing,” said Hellner, who learned of Aiello’s stores by chance from an online search of gourmet markets in New England. “[My cookies] are meant to be in smaller venues, where people are looking for something different.”
Besides the biscotti del limone, which Hellner describes as her “flagship cookie,” DeLuca’s will likely carry all Haiku’s “bake-to-order” varieties, including cherry almond, Tahitian vanilla bean, orange anise and maple cranberry pecan. “If the fruit ones are anything like the lemon-orange, they must be over the top,” Aiello added.
While these cookies might seem somewhat expensive at roughly $2 apiece, Aiello said their biscuit size and full flavor should justify the price.
“They’re special occasion cookies, but they’re so good that people are going to have a hard time waiting for a special occasion once they try them,” he said. “These are in a class by themselves.”
Ricki Hellner will make an in-store appearance to introduce Haiku’s Luscious Cookies at DeLuca’s Market, 11 Charles St., on Saturday, March 14, at 11 a.m.

My mind would be so much better if I spent more time thinking about Shakespeare’s sonnets. But I can’t because it’s trash I ponder, and apparently you do too, since a recent Beacon Hill Civic Association survey found that Beacon Hill’s trashiness was the top complaint of the neighborhood’s residents.
Surely if Obama can clean up the mess in Washington, we can achieve the same goal on our modest streets.
A major contributor to our trash problem is the time household trash stays on the sidewalks. And right now, our practices are stuck in the mid-20th century, when recycling was barely a word. Here’s how the week goes.

Monday: At 7:10 am I set out our trash. It consists of one bag, filled with approximately one inch of trash. In the trash are several plastic bags, 2 corks and a smattering of paper wraps that still have a bit of food on them. The trash truck growls by about 8:30 and the guys throw my limp bag in the hopper, where at least one out of ten times any bag bursts or spills on the street, especially if it isn’t tied properly. Do they pick up the spill? Silly question.

Wednesday: At 7:15 am I again place a trash bag on the sidewalk. It’s about half the amount I set out on Monday, perhaps weighing an ounce. I shouldn’t bother since the amount is so small, but I’m worried that the wrap from the halibut we had on Monday night will stink up the kitchen if I leave it until Friday. The sidewalks are filled with small bags of trash and a lot of stuff that should be recycled.

Friday: I get up before 7:00 am because it takes a lot of time on Fridays to do my job. Actually it takes two of us. We haul out three heavy clear bags. They are packed full of empty containers that once held Tide, shampoo, pizza, yogurt, milk, orange juice, cider, wine, V-8 juice, pills, cereal, and take-out from the King and I. They are also filled with bare cardboard toilet paper and paper towel tubes, discarded office paper, mail, newspapers, catalogues I have unsuccessfully tried to stop and the plastic tray—washed—on which Monday’s halibut came home from the store.
Then we struggle with seven cardboard boxes—too big to fit into the clear plastic bags—that held birthday presents I had ordered for our grandchildren. (All four were born between January 24 and February 21, so those weeks’ recycled boxes are particularly numerous and bulky.)
Finally I carry out my practically empty black trash bag, into which I drop the two doggie-doo bags someone has helpfully left in my tree pit. I place this bag alongside my neighbor’s trash, also small, so the trash bags are separated from the bags to be recycled.

Lesson from all this: This is ridiculous.
If we are devotedly recycling, we no longer have much of anything to throw away. Yet these feather-light trash offerings are collected three times a week. Ninety-seven percent of what our household discards can be recycled. But this massive amount of material is collected only once a week.
Our household is lucky to have a closet in which to store recyclables, but most residents do not enjoy that amenity.

Time for a change: This is a new world order in recycling. We must change the number of weekly pickups of both trash and recyclables to reflect the new circumstances.
We should have TWO weekly pickups of recyclables. And since we would then be recycling so dutifully, we would need only two weekly pickups, at most, of trash. I would be satisfied with only one pickup for trash, but that change might be too drastic for some people.

Benefits: Two weekly pick-ups of recyclables would double the ability of Beacon Hill residents living without adequate storage to recycle. If it’s easy, people will do it.
Two days of pickups for everything would reduce the amount of time trash can legally stay on the sidewalk every week from about 48 hours to 32 hours. It would also reduce the rat population and the time available for street pickers to go through the trash and strew it around. These changes would make a big improvement in Beacon Hill’s appearance.
Recycling saves the taxpayers money. According to Susan Cacino, Boston’s recycling director, last year the city paid $80 a ton to dispose of trash, compared to about $20 a ton to dispose of recycled materials. On recycled paper it can even make money, although the price fluctuates, said Cacino.

To Public Works and Transportation Chief Dennis Royer and the Beacon Hill Civic Association: Make it happen. Yes we can.