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| By Courtney Llewellyn Reminder Assistant Editor EAST LONGMEADOW For the past seven years, iParty, the party supply and party planning company, has been donating items to local organizations for their various celebratory needs. This year, the East Longmeadow location gave away $2,800 worth of merchandise to eight different non-profit organizations. "All different kinds of stuff was donated," assistant store manager Shannon Purcell said. "They were clearance good that pile up over the course of the year." Items donated included paper goods, party goods and decorations for birthdays and holidays. The eight organizations that took advantage of iParty's generosity included the East Longmeadow Council on Aging, Hampden County Mothers of Twins, the Network Against Domestic Abuse, Somers Public Library, St. Luke's, Storrs Library, the Wilbraham Senior Center and the May Institute/Autism Speaks. Each group had an hour in the store to choose what they wanted to accept. Carolyn Brennan of the East Longmeadow Council on Aging used decorations from the store for this year's volunteer recognition luncheon. "Our theme ... was 'superheroes' so we were able to get a lot of superhero decorations from iParty at no extra cost," Brennan said. "The room looked great!" "We used to just discard the stuff or we used to give it to local schools," shift supervisor Kathy Luvera, a 13-year employee of the East Longmeadow store, said. "[Donating the items is] a nice thing to do for non-profit organizations." Luvera added that anything left over after iParty's Charity Days end is given to local churches or other groups. "[All the items] are used," she noted. All 50 stores in the iParty chain participated in this year's Charity Days event, donating more than $193,400 worth of merchandise to over 350 charities. "It's important for every business to acknowledge that they're a part of a community and contribute in one way or another," Purcell said. Charities can register for next year's iParty Charity Days online at www.iparty.com. |