Left to Right Committee: Meera Ayyampully, Sonal Khichadia, Radhika Patel, Nipa Naresh, Chitra Shanbhogue and Kath Burgweger (Board Chair). Credit: Leslie Yager
By Leslie Yager
Hundreds turned out to support the vital information resource that is Community Answers. Billed as “Swing into Spring,” it might just has well have been called it “Ditch Winter” considering the snowfall just days earlier had yielded to a sunny, balmy weather on Sunday.
And, when the weather turns warm, thoughts turn to sandals, shorts and short sleeves. And, oh those pretty summer dresses. With a sprinkling of adult models, the girls and boys modeling spring and summer clothing numbered upwards of 60, each enjoying their star turn on catwalk at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich.
The event, sponsored by Cummings & Lockwood LLC, Serendipity and WAG, was organized by event committee members Sonal Khichadia (Chairperson), Shalini Ahmed, Brooke Bohnsack, Rhiannon Forlini, Nipa Naresh, Meera Kurup, Radhika Patel, Chitra Shanbogue and Liane Tel.
Designer Stella McCaffrey, whose pretty dresses were modeled by 16 girls on the runway, described her creations as intended for 12-16 year-old girls, as “timeless, classic, young and appropriate.”
Asked what she meant by appropriate McCaffrey replied, “The girls shouldn’t look like twenty-year-old’s going to a club.” McCaffrey, who worked on Wall Street for 18 years before launching Stella M’Lia, her ‘teen-centric’ line of dresses intended for special occasions almost four years ago.
McCaffrey said her dresses are in 70 stores in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. McCaffrey, who is a local Greenwich mom herself, said her business has a strong association with the Greenwich community. Locally the Stella M’Lia designs are in WishList, Darien Sport Shop and All Dressed Up in Rye Brook.
Community Answers, which recently became a United Way program, has operated in Greenwich since 1968. About half of the non-profit’s modest budget is raised during the “Swing into Spring” event.
This year, the event, attended by about 300, was chaired by Sonal Khichadia and emceed by Sukanya Krishnan, the three-time Emmy Award winning anchor and reporter who is currently WPIX Morning News anchor.
Krishnan put all the young models at ease, and even coaxed an impromptu song out of one young model.
Housed inside Greenwich Library at 101 West Putnam Ave, volunteers are ready to field questions by phone (203) 622-7979 Monday – Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm. There is an interactive website that garnered over 112,000 views last year.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (203) 622-7979 Monday – Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm.