Monday, November 24, 2008

Stars Support Jessica Seinfeld's Baby Buggy Charity

Ecorazzi.com recently featured this article on the Seinfeld's summer Super Baby Buggy Luncheon. Check it out here.

"Baby Buggy was founded by Jessica Seinfeld in 2001 when she found herself with closets full of lightly used clothes and accessories from her first baby, Sascha, and didn’t know what to do with it all. The organization accepts baby clothes and all that baby ’stuff’ that goes along with raising a wee little one. Gwyneth explained what she does with her hand-me-downs, “We give Baby Buggy all our stuff… Strollers, car seats, clothes, toys.”

Baby Buggy supports families in all five New York Boroughs, and has handed out over 2 million items since it began. That’s some impressive re-using!"

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Baby Buggy Announces Three Additions to its Board of Directors

Erica Reid, Kelly Rutherford and Ari Shalam to help forward organization’s mission

New York, NY, October 29, 2008 — Baby Buggy, the New York-based charitable organization that provides essential products, clothing and gear to infants and children in need, announced today the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors: Erica Reid, Kelly Rutherford and Ari Shalam.

"Baby Buggy is thrilled to welcome Erica, Kelly and Ari to its Board of Directors," says Baby Buggy founder Jessica Seinfeld. "With the downturn in the economy and growing food security issues, this is going to be a particularly difficult year for New York’s most vulnerable families. We’re extremely lucky to have the support of such a smart and dedicated Board at this critical point in the organization’s history."

Click here for the full article at babybuggy.org

Friday, November 7, 2008

Look to the Stars

Baby Buggy was recently featured on Look to the Stars, "the web's number one source of celebrity charity news and information, covering what the top stars are doing to make a positive difference in the world. The site includes exclusive interviews and a database where fans can learn about their favorite stars' good deeds."

Click here to view the Baby Buggy's very own page on Look to the Stars.

Link

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Seinfeld's Push Baby Buggy

This USA Today article about Baby Buggy appeared in Nov. 2003. An excerpt:

"...Her husband, of course, is Jerry Seinfeld, the city's most famous sneaker addict and car buff. But on this weekday morning, the woman who got Manhattan's most tenacious bachelor to settle down and be a dad would rather talk about the babies she serves with her charity, Baby Buggy. She founded the organization, which provides baby essentials to poor families in the city's five boroughs, after her daughter was born on Nov. 7, 2000.

"I had no concept of how quickly they grow out of the clothing and how expensive it is," says Seinfeld, 32. "I was breast-feeding, so I couldn't leave my house, and I couldn't figure out where all the stuff that she outgrew should go. I talked to Jerry about giving it away, and he thought it was a really smart concept given that we were tripping over things in our apartment."

Her husband, 49, recalls how "Jessica and I were in the car together, driving down the West Side Highway, when she got this simple, great idea."

It was, of course, to start a giveaway service, initially featuring her friends' donated baby wares. Today, Baby Buggy (www.babybuggy.org) works with 60 social services agencies to distribute nearly 100,000 baby products a year..."

Click here for the full article

Monday, November 3, 2008

Baby Buggy Helps Struggling New Moms

Baby Buggy was featured in this NY Daily News article from April 28, 2008:

..."There's always something coming from Baby Buggy," said Victoria Capiral, the supervisor and education director at St. Anthony's Head Start, a federally funded early education program at 1750 Mansion St.

Baby Buggy found Teresa and Josefina in February when it teamed with St. Anthony's to help the 174 families in the Head Start program.

"Last month, they sent sport clothes for spring," said Capiral. "Everyone got two pieces each."

The parents are grateful.

"When I had my son, they didn't have Baby Buggy. I bring Stacey," said Teresa.

These are exactly the sort of families Jessica Seinfeld, the daughter of a social worker, hoped to help. Baby Buggy was created when Seinfeld became conscience-stricken after she considered throwing out her baby daughter's things.

Today, Baby Buggy has grown into a $4 million organization. It has 14 employees who work with 56 social services groups to provide impoverished New York City families with necessities for children from birth to age 5.

READ MORE...



Friday, October 24, 2008

Jessica Seinfeld's Blog on Oprah

On her blog on Oprah.com, Baby Buggy Founder Jessica Seinfeld discusses Baby Buggy and child nutrition:

"...Almost seven years ago, I started a local charity in New York called Baby Buggy (a portion of the sales of Deceptively DeliciousSM goes to support it). Baby Buggy started from a simple idea: With a growing population of families and children without adequate baby equipment, there should be an easy way for perfectly good, but slightly used, equipment to be refurbished and reused instead of being thrown away. We got started with a warehouse and a few volunteers, and now Baby Buggy is an integral part of our city's social service network that has delivered well over 2 million essential items to families in need.

The problems we face in child nutrition are definitely more complicated, immense and critical. But my experience with Baby Buggy taught me that every small step can make an impact, and that small changes can create a momentum that can make a big difference. It taught me that thinking small and thinking big at the same time gets you where you want to go. I also learned that helping one family at a time also matters..." MORE

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Nurse-Family Partnership

Baby Buggy began it's collaboration with the Nurse-Family Partnership in September of 2006.

The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a nurse home visiting program, in which nurses work with their low-income, first-time mothers during their pregnancy and for the first two years of their child's life. The general goals of this public health program, run in New York City by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, are to improve pregnancy outcomes for the mothers; improve child health and development by helping parents provide more responsible and competent care for their child; and improve a mother's economic self-sufficiency by helping her develop a vision for her own future, plan future pregnancies, and continue her education and find work. The nurse visits her client every week or every other week, starting by the client's 28th week of pregnancy and finishing when the child turns two years old.

Baby Buggy has been instrumental in helping the NFP nurse home visitors implement their teaching with their clients. A major component of the NFP curriculum is safety, and the items Baby Buggy provides not only help reinforce these teachings but minimize potetially dangerous situations. The items Baby Buggy has donated have been a huge help to Nurse-Family Partnership families across New York City, as attested by many of the NFP nurses, by donating critical items that are costly but necessary in creating a safe environment for a child. Baby Buggy has reduced the financial burden on low-income families and the stress that accompanies that burden. A crib, a car seat, a high chair and a bathtub could easily cost NFP families $500 to $1,000 - money these families simply do not have. When a nurse teaches about safety measures, whether it is preventing SIDS or safely bathing the baby or feeding the baby, through Baby Buggy's support, nurses can provide many of the necessary tools to make sure the child will be safe when she leaves.

To date, Baby Buggy has delivered 82,320 items to 786 families and 842 children served by the Nurse-Family Partnership

If you are interested in supporting the Baby Buggy Nurse-Family Partnership program, please click here

Monday, October 13, 2008

Baby Buggy Delivers More Than 3000 Cribs To Needy New York City Families

Baby Buggy Delivers More Than 3000 Cribs To Needy New York City Families
***
First Phase of “Project Safe Sleep” Completed

New York, NY (April 3, 2007) – Baby Buggy, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to delivering essential baby items to New York City families in need, announced today that it has completed the first phase of its Project Safe Sleep and delivered more than 3000 cribs and bassinets to New York City families.

jessica seinfeldIn 2005, Baby Buggy founded Project Safe Sleep to combat the rising number of infant fatalities due to suffocation. Safe Sleep is a partnership between Baby Buggy and New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., the country’s largest municipal healthcare system. Project Safe Sleep delivers cribs and bassinets to new mothers through two city hospitals, Harlem Hospital Center and Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn.

“We are delighted to be able to help families provide a safe sleeping place for their children,” said Claudia Fleming, executive director of Baby Buggy. “Too many infants get injured or even die due to improper sleeping places, and we are proud to be able to work with HHC to combat this. We are delighted at the outpouring of support from individuals and corporations who have contributed to the crib drive.”

Baby Buggy currently is starting Phase Two of Project Safe Sleep; this will focus on the program’s expansion to additional hospital sites in the Bronx and East Harlem. Phase Two also will place a greater emphasis on the social services delivered in conjunction with the cribs and bassinets.

Baby Buggy delivers essential items for infants and young children to thousands of families in need throughout New York City. Founded in 2001 by Jessica Seinfeld, Baby Buggy works with more than 80 social services organizations to distribute a wide range of new and gently used essentials, from cribs and strollers to clothing and diapers. Since its inception, Baby Buggy has donated nearly two million items, all of which are vetted for safety and utility. For more information, please visit www.babybuggy.org.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Letter from Jessica Seinfeld, Baby Buggy Founder and President of the Board

"Our primary goal at Baby Buggy is to ensure that all parents and families in the 5 boroughs of New York City have the means to provide clothing and gear for their infants and young children."

Friend,

In 2001, shortly after the birth of my daughter, Sascha, having slowly accumulated closets full of used – but very usable – baby clothing and equipment she no long needed, I had a moral dilemma; as the daughter of a social worker, throwing out perfectly good baby gear was unthinkable; and yet there was no easy way to get it to a family who could use it.

Thus, Baby Buggy was born.

That Fall, a small but dedicated team of friends and volunteers joined me in organizing a donation drive – urging family, friends and neighbors to send us their gently used baby equipment and clothing for distribution to families in need throughout New York´s five boroughs. Our outreach was limited and informal, maybe even naïve; the response, however, was overwhelming.

Six years and two more children of my own later, Baby Buggy has become a part of our City´s social fabric in a way I could never have imagined. Working with scores of social service partners, Baby Buggy has collected and distributed more than 2 million items of clothing and equipment to New York´s families through domestic violence and homeless shelters, parent programs and court child centers.

I continue to be humbled by the tireless commitment of our staff and volunteers and the generous response to our supporters and partners. Their hard work and dedication has had a profound impact:

  • In partnership with the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, we have delivered over 3,000 safe sleeping places to families in need living in the Harlem, Bedford–Stuyvesant and Bushwick neighborhoods. With the success of the recent Bedtime Bash we will be able to bring the Project Safe Sleep initiative to The Bronx; the poorest urban county in America.
  • Through the Department of Homeless Services´ Homelessness Prevention Program, we had added stability to the lives of over 1700 families struggling to keep their homes by providing donations to ensure they wouldn´t have to choose between paying rent and buying baby gear.
  • In 2006 we began working with the nationally recognized Nurse Family Partnership sites in the five boroughs of NYC. This program pairs nurses with first time mothers living in poverty, to teach them good prenatal care and healthy parenting techniques.

Just as the conditions that lead a family into poverty persist, so does the ongoing need for our services. We never want to turn away a mother, child or family – we shouldn´t have to, because the items they need are all around us. They might be in your child´s room, still unused. Perhaps you are thinking of storing them. Or maybe you´re about to throw them away. Please don´t!

Instead, we ask that you support our important work by making a gift or donating new or gently used baby clothing and gear. Your generosity will directly support families and children who need it desperately.

Go to our donation area if you would like to contribute:

Make a Donation

With your help, we can and will continue to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

Thank you,

Jessica Seinfeld
Founder and President of the Board