Bubbles & Bling Designed to Help Those in Need

Feeling philanthropic?

Then drop by Nick Changet Jr. Jeweler anytime between 6 and 8 p.m. Thursday for Bubbles & Bling, a happy hour event benefiting the Stark County Hunger Task Force.

Non-perishable food items are being collected during the charitable event that’s doing triple duty as a social gathering and a shopping excursion to glean holiday gift ideas of the sparkly variety from the longtime North Canton jewelry store.

Bubbles & Bling is the brainchild of the Canton Chapter of the Foundation for Community Betterment – “a social network with a social conscience” – whose members will be serving up champagne, water and coffee as well as light appetizers such as cheese, crackers, fruit and chocolates.

Attendees are asked to donate a pantry item (or items!) for Stark Hunger as a “cover charge.” Items most needed by the task force are peanut butter, canned tuna, canned chicken, canned ravioli, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta, cereal, rice, soup, toilet paper and toothpaste.

Chellsea Mastroine, foundation marketing chair, said the “fun, relaxed event” will give area residents a chance to meet members of the five-year-old organization and learn about its community betterment efforts.

“We’re always looking for people that have a philanthropic spirit to join our organization,” Mastroine said. “When you come to something like (Bubbles & Bling) you get to talk with people one-on-one in a small, casual environment, as opposed to attending one of our monthly member meetings.”

The organization has long held a happy hour event each quarter to keep members engaged and to meet prospective new members in a relaxed atmosphere. Including a charitable reason for folks to attend the quarterly social events fits perfectly with the foundation’s mission.

“One of our members, Sarah Ozar, came up with the concept (and the name Bubbles & Bling) and reached out to Nick Changet Jr., who has always been very kind to our organization via donations to our silent auction,” Mastroine explained.

Changet not only agreed to host Bubbles & Bling in his store, but has also offered to donate a portion of any jewelry sales made during the event to the local foundation.

“We’ve had a few events here and this group was looking for somewhere different and unique to host their event. It’s a good place to accomplish what they want to,” Changet explained. “And since we’ve supported them in the past, we decided to donate a portion of the sales to the Foundation for Community Betterment.”

Mastroine said any funds raised that evening “will be put into our Canton Fund which we use for Immediate Need recipients who might be presented to us throughout the year, versus our Rocktoberfest recipients, which is our large annual fundraiser where we have three or four recipients. The 2012 Rocktoberfest was held in September and we raised over $30,000 for three deserving local recipients.”

The foundation will be selling copies of its “Be the Good” posters during Bubbles & Bling.

“This is going to be our theme for 2013. We had this poster at our Rocktoberfest event and they were such a hit, we decided to have them printed to sell. Money raised goes to our Canton Fund,” Mastroine said.

"Wish list" slips will be available for event attendees who might want to pass along some holiday gift-related hints to their loved ones after browsing through “the gorgeous selection of jewelry offered at Nick Changet Jr. Jeweler,” she said.

The store, founded in 1955, sells a wide array of unique jewelry, including items from Simon G. and Vellari. The store specializes in the creation of custom jewelry. A variety of stones and settings, all of the customer's choosing, are used to craft the perfect piece of jewelry for any occasion.

For more information about the Canton Chapter of the Foundation for Community Betterment visit its Facebook page. For details about Bubbles & Bling visit the organization's event page on Facebook.