A Purse for Change – Benefit for the Women’s Foundation of Genesee Valley

Until I moved to London, I was a one-at-a-time purse person. I would buy an unremarkable black or brown bag, and use it every day until it was too broken to patch or my friends complained that it was desperately out of fashion. For me, a pocketbook was a totally utilitarian tool, and the most desirable features had to do with a comfortable strap length, zippered security, and perhaps some internal pockets for keeping order. Then a new friend introduced me to the concept of a purse as an accessory. Initially, this seemed a needless burden – I would have to keep moving the contents to and fro, potentially misplacing something, like my glasses or my keys. But I bought some cute shoes at a place that sold bags that matched, and from then on I was hooked.

So even though I already owned dozens of purses (because I soon realized you don’t need just one black bag, you need different sizes and different materials for different occasions!), I went to the Purse for Change benefit for the Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley last year. I certainly wasn’t in the market for any additional bags, but I was on the lookout. And it was for a good cause – the foundation’s mission is “to empower and inspire women and girls to achieve economic self-sufficiency through grant making and education.” I was lucky to have been raised in a family and community in which this was not an issue. Poverty was never something that I would feel threatened with, and I took my ability to attend the college and graduate school of my choice for granted. As anyone who lives here knows, since we read it all the time, Rochester is one of the poorest cities in the nation, and unfortunately, girls and women are disproportionately affected.

My friends Martha and Gwen went with me, and we thoroughly enjoyed the event. Susan Latoski, the Executive Director, informed me that there were about 300 attendees (two of whom were men!), and about 150 purses (surprisingly, only 50 were donated; the remainder were purchased, with the aid of the benefit’s sponsors). The event was extremely well run – 40 volunteers kept watch over the purses and answered questions and processed transactions at the end of the silent auction. I bid on several, mostly to be supportive, but there was one in particular – an interesting two-fer by Miche – that I wanted badly enough to ‘buy it now’ so people would stop ogling and touching ‘my’ purse! I also ‘won’ a cute grey bag (well, I didn’t have a grey bag…) that had some serious bidding on it, and a black bag, constructed of recycled bicycle inner tubes, made right here in Rochester! I liked that bag so much that I visited the workshop, EvenOdd, in the Hungerford building and bought three more as gifts for friends. I lost out on a Louis Vuitton purse in the live auction – to Susan Latoski herself! The live auction was wonderfully run, with great patter, by Pamela Sherman, who is locally known as the Suburban Outlaw in the D&C.

Last year’s event raised over $70,000. I already have my ticket for this year’s event, on March 19. To learn more about the organization or the event, click here. I hope to see more of my friends at this year’s auction, and I promise not to bid against you!