The Greyston Foundation in Yonkers raised a record $455,000 for its community work at its recent annual benefit that celebrated the culmination of the social enterprise organization”™s 30th anniversary year.
Special honorees at the May 22 gala at X20 Xaviar”™s on the Hudson were Jeffrey Koslowsky, former Greyston Foundation board chairman, managing member of Indigo Asset Management and chief financial officer of Advocate Brokerage in Scarsdale, and Sandy Loewentheil and Ron Moelis, co-founders of L+M Development Partners in Larchmont.
L+M recently partnered with Greyston to open a 92-unit, $32 million multifamily housing development in Yonkers.
Greyston officials said Koslowsky led a financial restructuring that has transformed the organization and enabled it to grow and invest in the Yonkers community. As a result of his efforts, Greyston Bakery has grown in the past two years and now exceeds $10 million in annual sales while increasing Greyston”™s workforce by 50 percent.
The Greyston Foundation provides jobs at the commercial bakery for hard-to-employ residents. Bakery revenue is used to support a wide array of programs and services including affordable housing, a nationally accredited child care center, HIV health services, job training and placement and a community gardens program.
The bakery provides 4 million pounds of brownies a year for Ben & Jerry”™s popular ice cream flavors. In a new partnership with Whole Foods, Greyston ships brownies to stores across the U.S. with a percentage of proceeds supporting women around the world with micro loans through the Whole Foods Foundation. The brownies are also featured in products sold by Shake Shack.
Bernie Glassman, a Zen Buddhist priest who founded Greyston Bakery in 1982, attended the benefit.
Koslowsky announced the kickoff of a new scholarship fund for Greyston”™s Child Care Center. Named after Greyston”™s longtime director Sarah Brown, who recently retired, the fund will provide critically needed support for hard-working parents who can”™t afford child care.
All pledges to the fund made at the benefit were matched dollar for dollar by the Gary Saltz Foundation Inc. in New York. More than $60,000 was raised.
