Connie Milstein

Each year, Connie’s Bakery and General Store, owned by Connie Milstein, selects six non-profit organizations.  They become Charitable Partners of Connie’s store, which means that they promote the work of their partners in their stores and on their website. Connie’s Bakery also gives financial contributions to these organizations.

This year’s non-profit organizations includes:

Breadwinners Foundation
Career Closet
The Family Resource Center of Peekskill, Inc.
The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley
Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley

Connie Milstein and her family have “long been dedicated to philanthropy in the United States and abroad.”  Connie  founded Connie’s Bakery and General Store which gives 100% of its proceeds to charity, she is a board member of Blue Star Families which supports military families, and is on the Board of Directors of CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy).  The Milstein Awards “recognize achievements by biomedical research scientists who have made outstanding contributions to interferon and cytokine research, either in a basic or applied field.”  It was established in 1988, following the 1986 approval of interferon for treating hairy cell leukemia.  Research has gone on to show how interferons and cykotines are crucial in the advancement of many major life-threatening diseases such as cancer, hepatitis, as well as autoimmune disorders like lupus and multiple sclerosis.  This year’s award ceremony will take place on October 3rd at the ISICR Annual Meeting and will be the 22nd of its kind.

The Jefferson Hotel in Washington D.C., meticulously renovated recently by Connie Milstein and her firm, Ogden CAP Properties, offers interesting and frequent events.

Most recently, on June 23^rd, they offered a five-course dinner prepared by Plume’s Executive Chef Damon Gordon.  The evening’s meal included wine pairings from Tablas Creek Winery.

The Jefferson used this lovely event to focus on the wines of the famous Rhone Valley and their American counterparts, together with senior vice president Daniel Hass of Tablas Creek Winery.

Enjoying an evening at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C., where Connie Milstein is on the Board, is certainly a treat and a unique experience.  The Society Director Paul Tetreault has recently announced the Theatre’s 2010-2011 season which includes a fantastic line-up.  Certainly, this season will be eagerly anticipated by all.

The 2010-2011 line-up includes Sabrina Fair by Samuel A. Taylor, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Carpetbagger’s Children by Horton Foote, Liberty Smith based on the original story by Marc Madnick and Eric R. Cohen and more.

Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy has a number of interesting upcoming events and a few that just happened.  CURE just hosted Gia’s Hope for a Cure on June 13^th, 2010. This event took place at the Miller Beach Surf Club in Miller Place, NY with guest speaker Dr. David Anschell.

On June 17^th, The 22^nd Annual Loeffel Epilepsy Golf Benefit takes place at Hawk’s View Golf Club. This is in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  Looking farther ahead, from August 8-13, at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, there will be the Gordon Research Conference.  This conference will focus on Mechanisms of Epilepsy & Neuronal Synchronization.

Connie Milstein, co-founder of the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI), can take pride in the foundation’s Landmine Education Tour.  This enables participants to learn all about landmine action and how it impacts many people in other parts of the world.  Because Americans thankfully do not have to live their everyday lives in fear of war-related debris, it is absolutely natural that they would not understand what it means to be impacted in this way.  But the Milstein-founded Humpty Dumpty Institute, that is “putting the pieces back together,” sees this all the time in other less-fortunate, war-torn countries.  Education is thus key, if efforts are to be made with the citizens in these countries who have to think twice about what should be a simple walk to the local store or playground.

Connie Milstein on Supporting the HDI

So naturally, someone as closely connected to the HDI as Connie Milstein would welcome such an innovative, educational tour. As well as being informative, it is “a great way to encourage individuals to support the important work that HDI” is undertaking along with other organizations with similar goals.  What is good about destroying a landmine is that it is a one-time effort so this kind of problem is definitely solvable.  Once it is solved, the lives of the individuals affected by it can completely turnaround.  What a great way to help people in the world less fortunate than ourselves, by participating in this worthy project; just a one-time solution to a potentially fatal problem.

This year’s Heart’s Delight weekend was a huge success.  Held in early May, the Heart’s Delight weekend of events was chaired by Connie Milstein.

At the Vintner’s Dinner, all guests raised their glasses to honor Constance Milstein, who has been a long-time benefactor of the American Heart Association with her husband Jhan-Christophe de La Haye Saint Hilaire.

The Executive Vice President of the AHA, David Markiewicz, praised Connie Milstein’s support for heart research as he highlighted her dedication in gathering support for the annual series of events.

During the evening, approximately 400 guests had the pleasure of dining on a six-course meal while enjoying wines from Chateau Margaux.

Laura Dempsey is one of the founders of Blue Star Families, an organization which recently added Connie Milstein to their Board of Directors. Ms. Dempsey founded BSF in order to fill in what she saw as a large gap in the knowledge Americans had about military families. Ms. Dempsey felt that because little was really known about the everyday lives of military families, it was hard for the public to understand the successes and challenges of these families. She believed that by bringing awareness to the public, civilians could connect more readily with the military families, help support them, and generally share in the service to our nation that the military families bear, for the most part, on their own.

Laura Dempsey is the wife of Major Jason Dempsey, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. The Dempsey family is stationed at Fort Drum, in New York, but in their eleven years of marriage of already moved seven separate times, to five different U.S. states. Laura is a civil rights lawyer and, for the past ten years, has worked for the rights of children and families, including helping to draft federal legislation to protect families and the children within them.

Last weekend, Heart’s Delight, which raises money for the American Heart Association, took place in Washington D.C.  One of the highlights of this elegant series of events was the annual Vintners Dinner.  Held this year at the Mellon Auditorium, and chaired, along with all of the other events, by Connie Milstein, the Vintners Dinner included a lavish six course meal with eight wines by Bordeaux.

This first picture features Bordeaux negotiant Philippe Tappie, consultant Cathy Porter, American Heart Association board chair Dean Morehouse and the Sotheby auctioneer Jamie Richie.

Here, they’ve captured four other participants enjoying the Vintner’s Dinner.  This picture includes Tammy Haddad, John Coale, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Constance Milstein Countess de La Haye St. Hilaire.

Blue Star Families is an organization which was founded by military families in order to support, connect and empower military families. The influence of BSF is widespread, with a presence in over 70 military bases throughout the world. BSF is proud to have a dynamic National Leadership Team which is comprised of the spouses and other family members of the active duty, military personnel, including national guardsmen, reservists and veterans who are serving in all of the branches of the U.S. military.

Connie Milstein recently became a member of the board of directors of BSF- a natural extension of Mrs. Milstein’s long-term commitment to and concern for military families. Connie Milstein’s support has extended to donating, on more than one occasion, special confections from her baked goods shop, Connie’s Bakery, adding a sweet touch to the special programing BSF organized on behalf of their families. Whether it is brownies, cookies or cakes, treats from Connie Milstein’s bakery says, “We love you and support you!” in the sweetest way possible.