Care to Dance,” an annual dance and entertainment event benefiting Your ReSource, a recycling and repurposing organization, will be held on Sunday, April 13, at the Suzanne Patterson Center in Princeton from 4 to 9 p.m.
New this year is a silent auction featuring “ReSouled Shoes,” an effort of area artists and supporters who refashion used footwear into works of visual and functional art. This is in keeping with the organization’s mission stressing reuse, recycling, and repurposing to benefit society and the environment by keeping valuable, but unwanted items, out of landfills and into the hands of people who need them. Tickets are $50 with registration, and $65 at the door.##M:[more]##
The benefit also features a performance and chances to dance with professional swing, Latin, ballroom, and country dancers from the tri-state area including John Lindo, Donna Boyle, Barbara Capaldi, Brian Gallagher, Candace Clough, Donna Roesel, Diane Nardone, Jackie Stahl, Michael Frank, Brian Faust, Lynne Stevens, Sally Poor, Vin Iyer, Sonya Elmore, or Michael Stevens. Music will be provided by DJ Dave Muzii. There will also be a goods and services auction.
The evening directly benefits the CARE (Community Access to Rehabilitation Equipment) program, which facilitates the collection and resale of gently-used durable medical equipment and unopened medical supplies. CARE collects, refurbishes, and makes gently-used medical equipment available to individuals at an affordable cost or at no cost at all, with priority given to those with limited resources. Items available include wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds, canes, crutches, commodes, bath items, patient lifts, and unopened medical supplies.
Judy Feldman of West Windsor is one of the committee members. “I was so taken with what Geri LaPlaca is doing,” she says, referring to the founder and director of CARE, who is collecting medical supplies including crutches, shower chairs, walkers, and wheelchairs that people have in their homes and do not know how to recycle. “It is the only non-profit in the state selling medical supples.”
“I could have outfitted my house with medical equipment for my mother to visit,” she says. “It is perfect for siblings who take turns taking care of their parents. Health insurance does not cover duplicate supplies.”
She learned volunteering through her parents. Her mother was a longtime volunteer with both the Princeton YWCA and Roosevelt Hospital, when she lived in New York. Her father gave much of his time to the League of Women Voters. “They both believed in giving back,” she says. “I have come by it honestly.”
Feldman was born and raised in Queens, moved to Menlo Park with her husband, Jeff, in 1971, and to Yeger Road in West Windsor in 1974. “The new development was only a mile from the train and the area was mostly fields and sod farms,” she says.
Feldman, who began her career as a preschool teacher, later had an interior plantscaping business called Blooming Interiors, and was in advertising/marketing with Barbara Berglund Associates in Pennington. She was director of development and communications with the Princeton Area Community Foundation and then joined Princeton Public Library to complete their capital campaign for the new library and to help start to build their endowment fund. She also staged the grand opening festivities for the new library.
She left the library to pursue other interests, do more volunteer work, travel, catch up with friends, and spend more time with her family. Her husband, Jeff, is in the investment business. Their daughter, Dawn Fukuda, who lives in Boston is the HIV/AIDS Bureau’s associate director with Massachusetts Department of Health. Their son, Scott Feldman, is in private equity with Susquehanna Investment Group on Wall Street. They have three granddaughters and one grandson.
When their children were students at Princeton Day School, Judy joined the parent’s association, became the president of the group, and then was elected to be a board member of the school.
Feldman is also a trustee for People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos that brings literature, using the vehicle of the short story read out loud, to people who have had little exposure to reading and the themes of great literature. The program is delivered in English and in Spanish. She also continues sharing her fundraising expertise with area nonprofits, most recently advising the Princeton Education Foundation.
Her sister-in-law, Carol Feldman, is chairing the event. A resident of Lawrence she is a therapist during the day and teaches dance in the evening. She will teach beginners how to dance at the event. “There are many elements to this event for spectators, beginners, and advanced dancers,” says Judi Feldman.
Items welcome at Your ReSource during regular business hours at 8 Industry Court, Ewing, include medical equipment, cell phones, ink jet and laser printer cartridges, DVD players, laptop computers, MP3 players, digital cameras and picture frames, and portable navigation devices. They also welcome never-worn shoes or boots for the odd shoe collection used by individuals with special footcare needs. — Lynn Miller
Care to Dance, Your Resource, Suzanne Patterson Center, Princeton, 609-530-1513. www.yourresourcenj.org. Second annual benefit features ballroom, country, and Latin dancers; food; and music. Silent auction for “ReSouled Shoes,” imaginative creations fashioned from old footwear. Proceeds benefit Care program that collects, refurbishes, and resells gently used durable medical equipment to those who need them. Register. $50 to $65. Sunday, April 13, 4 to 9 p.m.
