New York’s Financial Services Industry shows impressive support for New York’s sickest kids

4th Annual Cocktails with a Cause event raises over $250,000 for St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children

The STK Downtown in New York City was the place to be seen last night as top professionals from New York’s financial services industry gathered for the Fourth Annual Cocktails with a Cause, a premier benefit event to support St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, NYC’s only long-term rehabilitation hospital for children with medically complex conditions. This year’s event raised over a quarter of a million dollars, with proceeds to support St. Mary’s state-of-the-art Neuro-Rehabilitation Program that helps children with brain injury and neurological impairments regain function and independence.

Despite the inclement weather, over 300 people joined special celebrity guests, Actor Stephen Baldwin, Miss USA 2012 Nana Meriwether, media personality Sandy Kenyon, and VIP speaker for the evening Dr. Philip DeFina, founder of the International Brain Research Foundation, to raise funds for and awareness of the growing number of children with special needs at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children.

The cocktail event featured a high-spirited and vibrant live auction led by Baldwin and Kenyon that had guests outbidding each other for extravagant and exclusive prizes including: tickets to New York’s Fashion Week with backstage meet and greet; Yankee Legend Seats; Yankee tickets signed by Michael Kay; VIP Mets tickets with an autograph David Wright baseball bat; round of Golf at Deepdale Golf Club; weekend at Windham and a sailboat cruise with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Auction bids quickly escalated as loud cheers and a little friendly competition upped the ante. Baldwin, supported by lead committee members Chris Savino and Suzanne Antolini concluded the auction after all twenty-one items were sold, raising over $120,000 dollars for St. Mary’s Kids.

“On behalf of St. Mary’s Kids, I extend my heartfelt thanks to each supporter, sponsor, and the hard-working Cocktails with a Cause committee,” said Dr. Edwin Simpser, CEO and President of St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. “Proceeds from tonight’s event will support our vital Neuro-Rehab program—one of the most technologically advanced in the nation among post-acute providers.”

This event was spearheaded by industry professionals and committee members Chris Savino, Morgan Stanley; Suzanne Antolini, Brean Capital LLC; Elizabeth Ard, Dabroes Management LP; Rebecca Aslin, Huron Consulting Group; Jennifer Blaser, Sandler O’Neil; Frank Biondo, Offit Capital; Howard Feldman, BTIG; Thomas Goss, BMO, Tom Jarck; Juliana Shkreli, UBS; Katherine Sullivan, Jefferies & Co., Stephanie Thumm, Alger; Shara Ticku, Clinton Group; and Mike Varano, ISI Group. Sponsors include: BTIG, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, BMO Capital Markets, Brean Capital, Liquidnet, Macquarie Securities USA, Wedbush Securities, Scott Greene, Jefferies & Co., Louis Capital FX, TFS Derivatives Corp./Joshua Wietschner, BIDS Trading, Buckingham Research Group, Evercore, Exane Inc., Tim Hartigan, Kim & Tom Jarck, Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP, Sanford Bernstein, Scott Stackman and Jeff Stanley.