Valley Youth House\u2019s \u201cSetting the Stage with Rod Stewart\u201d raised $304,000 to support youth and families in the Greater Lehigh Valley region.<\/p>\n
The event began with a reception at Renaissance Allentown Hotel, during which community leaders and Valley Youth House alumni highlighted the agency\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Chris Martin, Executive Chairman, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc., and Thomas Ripsam, President & CEO, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc., were recognized as the event\u2019s \u201cDistinguished Honorees,\u201d according to a March 19 Valley Youth House press release<\/p>\n
Co-Chairs Vicki Doul\u00e9, Lehigh Valley Executive Vice President, Community Impact & Market Development, Capital Blue Cross; Laurie Hackett, Corporate and Community Relations, Air Products; Matthew Kenendy, Director of Custom Shop Sales, Administration and Support, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc., and Ken Telfort, Corporate Vice President, Business Process Excellence, B. Braun Medical, Inc., were recognized for their leadership.<\/p>\n
During the reception, a custom-made D-28 Martin Guitar with a Valley Youth House mother-of-pearl inlay custom pick guard was auctioned.<\/p>\n
The D-28 was crafted and donated by C.F. Martin & Co., Inc. It is a one-of-a-kind instrument that has an interior label signed by Chris Martin, Thomas Ripsam and Tom Harrington, President & Executive Director, Valley Youth House, and a signature on its body by Rod Stewart.<\/p>\n
Keynote speaker was Destiny Jarnagin, a Life Skills Case Manager & Family Advocate for Valley Youth House. She was the \u201cSetting the Stage\u201d youth speaker nearly a decade ago when she was a member of Valley Youth House\u2019s Adolescents Achieving Independence Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came into foster care when I was fourteen with my brother and five other siblings. You could say my life felt like a leaf in a wind storm,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast October, a dream beyond reality happened when I was hired at Valley Youth House. Many of my clients are still in foster care or have experienced homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith your support, we are able to help them get apartments, education, jobs and learn basic life skills to be successful. The work I do with Valley Youth House is truly a full circle moment for me,\u201d Jarnagin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe backing we received for this event demonstrates our supporters\u2019 commitment to some of the most vulnerable children in our community,\u201d said Harrington.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job is to get young people into a safe space and a positive environment where they can heal from any past trauma. And we do that by surrounding them with dedicated individuals like you,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n
After the reception, guests at the event attended the Rod Stewart March 14 concert in PPL Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cSetting the Stage\u201d is Valley Youth House\u2019s signature fundraising event, celebrating the impact that supporters have on the lives of vulnerable individuals in the Greater Lehigh Valley region. Proceeds benefit programs and services Valley Youth House provides to youth and families.<\/p>\n
Destiny Jarnagin<\/p>\n
Custom-made D-28 Martin Guitar with Valley Youth House mother-of-pearl inlay custom pick guard and body signed by Rod Stewart.<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOSFrom left to right: Tara Zrinski, Northampton County Executive; Ken Telfort, Corporate Vice President, Business Process Excellence, B. Braun Medical, Inc.; Thomas Harrington, President and Executive Director, Valley Youth House; Matthew Kennedy, Director of Custom Shop Sales, Administration, and Support, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc.; Chris Martin, Executive Chairman, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc.; Thomas Ripsam, President & CEO, C.F. Martin & Co., Inc.; Vicki Doul\u00e9, Lehigh Valley Executive Vice President, Community Impact & Market Development, Capital Blue Cross; Kathryn M. Brown, Founder and Principal, Morton Brown Family Wealth, LLC; Destiny Jarnagin, Life Skills Counselor and Family Advocate, Valley Youth House, and Client Speaker, and Christina J. Schoemaker, Senior Vice President of Advancement, Valley Youth House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valley Youth House\u2019s \u201cSetting the Stage with Rod Stewart\u201d raised $304,000 to support youth and families in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-162128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}