On Wednesday, April 29, we hosted The Spring Soiree at The Westmount Country Club, bringing together community leaders, healthcare advocates, and passionate supporters of maternal and child health. The celebratory evening highlighted the theme of shared purpose, underscoring that it takes all of us – our different skills, passions, and ideas – working together to advance maternal and child health outcomes. We are grateful to everyone who joined us, to our sponsors, our supporters, and our community, and we look forward to what we will accomplish together.
Honoring Maternal and Child Health Changemakers and Advocates
This year’s Spring Soirée honored Charles R. Casser (Spirit Award), Shirley Harris (Impact Award), Jennifer Gomes-Lemon (Catalyst Award), and Sanofi (Excellence Award). The four awardees received their honors during a special program led by Partnership President & CEO Mariekarl Vilceus-Talty and Board of Trustees Chair Joseph V. Schwab, Jr., MD, MPH. Their dedication and leadership in healthcare and the community reflect our mission to change the maternal health paradigm.
“This room is filled with clinicians, doulas, midwives, doctors, community health workers, advocates, funders, bankers, community leaders, all gathered for the same stubborn belief. They believe that every mother has the right to survive birth, that every baby deserves a fair start,” Vilceus-Talty said during a moving welcome speech. “We at the Partnership live in the intersection of data, community, policy, and people. We are the connectors. So, because we understand that no single organization can do this alone, we understand that there are gaps, and it takes a village – this is the village.”
Changing the Paradigm in Maternal Health Together
That feeling of shared purpose permeated the evening, collaboration and dedication to improving maternal and child health outcomes acting as a throughline connecting each speech.
Helene Janosczyk, who accepted the Excellence Award on behalf of Sanofi, expressed that their work in delivering medicines and vaccines to millions of people around the world is supported through collaboration with innovative public health leaders and organizations. Catalyst Award winner Gomes-Lemon founded the Madd Ox Foundation after the loss of her son, catalyzing her grief into purpose by supporting bereaved parents. Impact Award winner Harris founded My Kota Bear, an organization that brings awareness and support to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) families, after her own experience with her daughter’s extensive stay in the NICU. Harris spoke ardently about how her NICU experience pushed her into her purpose.
Impassioned speeches from award winners and presenters, alongside over 200 maternal and child health advocates and changemakers, generated a dynamic energy that filled the gathering with hope for the future of maternal and child health.
“I have felt a strong compassion for this organization through many years of involvement … I have always wanted to be able to help and support them, whatever it takes, to accomplish their mission of helping people who need it most,” said Spirit Award winner Casser. “Thank you again for opening up this banker’s eyes to the world we live in and how we must make it better and safer for everyone.”
As the program ended, Vilceus-Talty surprised Carol Casser, Charles’s spouse, with an award, recognizing her unwavering and integral support of the Partnership since its inception, including her participation in our very first fundraiser.
Celebrating Maternal Health Advancement and Innovation
We are grateful for the outstanding work of all the awardees, and we are honored to work with them and with our dedicated partners, supporters, advocates, staff, and community towards the shared purpose of empowering mothers, babies, families, and our communities to not only survive but thrive.
Other highlights of the night featured the premiere of our new Partnership video, an exhilarating electric violin performance, enchanting comedic magicians, an exciting silent auction, and a delicious reception. Attendees reunited to celebrate the innovative work accomplished by so many and to spark the ongoing effort to advance maternal and child health.
Capturing the heart of the evening, Vilceus-Talty remarked, “When you look around this room, what I see is light that is everywhere, and it is burning, and it is multiplying. So tonight we celebrate this light. We celebrate our partners. We celebrate the organizations and individuals who show up, who co-create, who refuse to let the complexity of this work become an excuse for inaction. We celebrate the communities we serve, who are not just beneficiaries but the architects of the work we do. We celebrate every baby that has come into this world, a safer world. Every mother who is seen and heard and supported, every family that is found with the resources they need. Thank you for being the light that we share, and thank you for sharing the work that we do.”
Thank You, Spring Soiree Sponsors!
The Spring Soiree would not have been possible without our generous sponsors. Thank you for your support and for all you do to uplift maternal and child health. Sponsors include Valley Bank, Holy Name Medical Center, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center – RWJ Barnabas Health, St. Clare’s Health, Columbia Bank, Hackensack Meridian Health, Liberty Dental Plan, Englewood Health, St. Joseph’s Health, HUB, St. Mary’s General Hospital, Esther & Maurice Kuykendoll, Valley Health System, Withum, HM Marketing, NJM Insurance, Vivian Holzer & Mitchell Ignatoff, Wendy Warren, MD & Laszlo Fuzesi, MD, Forsgate Industrial Partners, Integrity House, Ernani Sadural, MD, PhD & Sarah Timmapuri, MD, Mutual of America Financial Group, and The Furniture X-Change. We look forward to many more celebrations and continued progress together.
