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Date: 10/3/2023
WILBRAHAM — The Wilbraham Welcome Project hopes friends and neighbors will join them for a fundraiser to help the organization turn new neighbors into friends.
The Harvest Fundraiser at Wilbraham Country Club, 859 Stony Hill Rd., on Oct. 7 will feature dinner catered by 3 Guys at the Grille, as well as signature cocktails and mocktails and dessert from Pan’e Dolcetti. Project 267 will provide dinner music and follow up with music to get guests dancing later in the evening.
Tickets for tables up to eight are available at thewilbrahamwelcomeproject.com.
The Harvest Fundraiser is the first major fundraiser hosted by the Wilbraham Welcome Project since it began two years ago. The proceeds will go toward the creation and distribution of “welcome bags” for new residents in Wilbraham and Hampden.
Aurora Pierangelo Frias, founder of the Wilbraham Welcome Project, said the bags contain coupons and products from local businesses, a “must-see and -do” checklist of area attractions and a list of “all the questions you’ve ever had about living in the area,” with helpful businesses and organizations to contact. It all comes in a tote designed by Alessandra Corbett of The Homegrown Studio and screen printed by Matt Reid at Triumph Printing, both Wilbraham-based businesses.
“This is what the Welcome Project was started to do,” said Pierangelo Frias. “We just gave out our 50th bag in August.”
Pierangelo Frias said, “We’ve had a lot of other things that have taken our focus,” including creating and distributing calendars that feature residents, running the seasonal farmers market at United Church and setting up meetings for local businesses and organizations. “Now, we’re trying to scale back and focus on our primary goals,” she said.
One initiative that the Wilbraham Welcome Project plans to launch is new resident meetups. The group has had one so far, at the Wilbraham Public Library. About a dozen families came out, Pierangelo Frias said. She added that the group is planning more opportunities for new residents to meet, make friends and feel welcomed.