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Date: 3/23/2022
LUDLOW – To help raise awareness for mental health, Outside the Box Gift Shop will be hosting a fundraiser to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) Massachusetts chapter on March 26.
Owner Michelle LaRocque said her business offers a variety of different retail options and classes.
“It is a gift shop, clothing boutique and a maker space. I started in business in downtown Springfield two and a half years ago and I got a grant from the city of Springfield to open up a space and gave it a try and I liked it, so I moved to Ludlow,” she said. “We are three levels of retail here and we do DIY classes, we have events, food trucks, fundraisers, all those types of things, so we have many, many events here,” she said.
LaRocque said she wanted to do a fundraiser for with AFSP because of how important mental health awareness is.
“It hits close to home for me and a lot of people that I know, and it is a subject a lot of people don’t feel comfortable talking about, so I thought this could bring light for some people, we are going to have a lot of swag and materials from AFSP here and a representative will also be popping in that day,” she said. “I just think it is a subject that affects so many people and we don’t talk about it a lot so I thought that would be a really good one.”
The AFSP fundraiser is in honor of Nathan Carriera, a Ludlow High School student who took his own life in 2018.
LaRocque added local business owner and Ludlow teacher Michelle Annecchiarico is co-hosting the event.
The focus of the fundraiser will be a raffle of goods from local artists and businesses.
“There will be two tables full of raffle prizes in the back, those raffle prizes are donated by my artists here at the shop or other small businesses I can grab a hold of, and they like to give a gift certificate or something like that, so we will have all the raffle prizes with all the proceeds going to the organization,” she said.
Outside the store, LaRocque said there will be a cotton candy machine from SNC Food Trucks and a dessert truck from Get Frosted. She said, “There will be sweets galore for purchase.”
Based on previous fundraisers, LaRocque said she is expecting a large turnout.
“The biggest fundraiser we have done to date was for Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Shelter [TJO] and we raised several thousand dollars for them, and it was like a madhouse in here,” she said. “I am anticipating this to be as close to or bigger than the TJO fundraiser.”
Along with the larger fundraisers, LaRocque said she also does smaller fundraisers for other organizations, including one for WillPower Foundation, a Western Mass. organization who helps financially support families with disabilities, that was hosted in February.
After receiving support back at the start of COVID-19, LaRocque said she is happy to give back to the community.
“I was very lucky, I opened my business two weeks before COVID[-19] hit and I had to shut my business down and people supported me, the community rallied, I was able to pay my bills, no help and reopen my doors and now I am in a larger location. I am thankful to Ludlow and the surrounding towns, it just makes me very happy to give back and support organizations that need help,” she said.
LaRocque said many of her same customers visit all the fundraising events and explained the ways people can donate.
“They will buy tickets for the raffle prizes, we keep a jar on the counter and people can put a dollar or some change in and then part of my proceeds of sales from the day goes toward the organization as well,” she said.
Outside the Box Gift Shop is located at 44 Sewall St. and the fundraiser for AFSP takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 26.