Auction Event Raises Over $33,000 for Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives 

(HARTFORD, CT, October 21, 2003) … Breaking the Cycle’s, first benefit event, “Gold Star Gala – Successes in Teen Pregnancy Prevention” raised over $33,000 to help fund the organization’s initiatives, organization officials announced today. 

The event featured a silent auction with over 50 different packages including jewelry, restaurant gift certificates, entertainment and sporting packages, and a live auction conducted by former Hartford mayor Mike Peters.  The most popular auction item, a week’s accommodation at any of 3000 vacation time-share facilities world-wide and two domestic airline tickets, generated an enthusiastic bidding war and eventually sold for $2,100.  The event also featured presentations by youth participants from Breaking the Cycle programs. 

“We are delighted to achieve such excellent results for a first-year event”, said Lizabeth Zlatkus, CFO at Hartford Life, who headed the event planning committee.  “It demonstrates a firm commitment from many area individuals and organizations to Hartford’s future,” she said. “We could not have achieved this success without the hard work and dedication of our event planning committee members, whose energy and resourcefulness went above and beyond the call of duty,” she added.  

The Hartford was the event’s primary sponsor. Other sponsors included: Advest; Day, Berry & Howard; Faith Congregational Church; Helen Frye; Hartford Hospital; Lebon Press; Lee Hecht Harrison; Doug and Mary Russell; St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center and The Travelers. Ramani Ayer, Chairman and CEO of the Hartford, was honorary chair of the event. 

Founded in 1995, Breaking the Cycle is a community partnership of the City of Hartford, the Hartford Action Plan on Infant Health and the Hartford Public Schools.  In Hartford the year before Breaking the Cycle began, 727 teens gave birth -- over 28 percent of the births in the city during 1994. Twenty-nine of those births were to teens under age 15. By the year 2000, births to teens in Hartford decreased to 482.  For more information about Breaking the Cycle’s teen pregnancy prevention initiatives, visit www.teenpregnancyhartford.org.

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