Norton, MA, July 31, 2006 — Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture co-founder and chairman Bernie Rubin and Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield recently filmed a series of public service announcements at the Home for Little Wanderers’ Boston Early Intervention (BEI) program in Brighton urging people to become involved in their community. The Home for Little Wanderers is a favorite charity of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture and the Red Sox. Pictured from left to right: Bernie Rubin, Tim Wakefield, and Lisa Rowan-Gillis, vice president for development and communications at the Home.
Norton, MA, July 10, 2006 – Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield recently gave Bernie Rubin, co-founder of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, a few pointers on his knuckle ball after signing baseballs for a group of “Bernie’s Baseball Buddies” from the Home for Little Wanderers. This is the seventh year that Bernie has taken a group of kids from the Home to see their first Red Sox game, to watch batting practice, and to meet some players. In addition to Wakefield, the kids met Manny Ramirez and Red Sox Hall-of-Famer Johnny Pesky.
Photo credit: ©2006 Randy H. Goodman
Photo credit: ©2006 Randy H. Goodman
Braintree, MA, February 7, 2006 – New England Patriot Vince Wilfork will make a special appearance at Bernie & Phyl’s Braintree store at 180 Wood Road on Saturday, February 11, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. to sign autographs and to talk about opportunities for people to become a child’s mentor. The event is part of a major public service campaign called “Be a Champion for a Child” that Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture launched last fall in conjunction with Vince Wilfork and the Mass Mentoring Partnership.
The “Be a Champion for a Child” program highlights the need for high-quality youth mentoring throughout Massachusetts. The campaign featured a series of television and radio spots starring Wilfork and Bernie Rubin, co-founder of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, encouraging more people to get involved with mentoring kids. Currently, there are thousands of children across the state in need of mentors. For every two kids matched with an adult, one remains on a mentoring program’s wait list.
“Mentoring has played a very important role both in my life and in Vince’s life,” said Bernie Rubin. “We hope a lot of people will come out to meet Vince and to talk to us about how he or she can make a difference in a kid’s life by becoming a mentor.”
For the past five years, Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture has sponsored the National Mentoring Month public service campaign for the Mass Mentoring Partnership. Last year, the Partnership presented the company with the first Champions of Mentoring Award for their long-standing support and commitment to mentoring kids.
Norton, MA, January 9, 2006 — New England Patriot Vince Wilfork recently taped a public service campaign with Bernie Rubin at the Bernie & Phyl’s store in Braintree to encourage adults to become mentors for children. These spots will run during National Mentoring Month in January on Channel 7. This is the second collaboration between Wilfork and Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture – a major mentoring promotion featuring the duo ran on WBCN this past fall. Larry Rubin, Bernie Rubin, and Rob Rubin, from Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, are pictured with Vince Wilfork in the middle.
Braintree, MA, November 21, 2005 — Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture is sponsoring a toy drive in conjunction with WB Channel 56 to benefit needy children across the state. People can donate new unwrapped toys in their original packaging at Bernie & Phyl’s Braintree store from December 6 to 16. The toys will be distributed to local charitable organizations serving children, including the Department of Social Services Kids Fund, the Latin American Health Institute, and the South Boston Neighborhood House.
A special “family day” will also be held at the Braintree store on Saturday, December 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. People can come and meet the WB 56 “spokesphibian,” Michigan J. Frog, who will pose for photos and hand out prizes to everyone who donates a toy.
“This is the second year that we have held toy drives in all of our stores and we are thrilled to be able to help make the holidays a little happier for families in need,” said Bernie Rubin, co-founder and chairman of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture.
Westboro, MA, November 21, 2005 — Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture is sponsoring a toy drive in conjunction with WB Channel 56 to benefit needy children across the state. People can donate new unwrapped toys in their original packaging at Bernie & Phyl’s Westboro store from December 6 to 16. The toys will be distributed to local charitable organizations serving children, including the Department of Social Services Kids Fund, the Latin American Health Institute, and the South Boston Neighborhood House.
“This is the second year that we have held toy drives in all of our stores and we are thrilled to be able to help make the holidays a little happier for families in need,” said Bernie Rubin, co-founder and chairman of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture.
Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture Be A Champion for a Child Program
with World Champion Football Player Vince Wilfork
New England’s World Champion Nose Tackle Vince Wilfork has teamed up with Mass Mentoring Partnership, the state’s umbrella organization for youth mentoring, corporate sponsor Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, and WBCN Patriots Rock Radio Network to see that more of our young people are connected to caring adult mentors who will listen to them, stand by them and guide them.
Currently, for every two kids matched with an adult, one remains on a mentoring program’s wait list. It is imperative that more adults volunteer to mentor a child.
Norton, MA, September 23, 2005 — Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture recently donated new furniture for the waiting and interview rooms of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County (CAC). The CAC is an interagency public/private partnership dedicated to minimizing trauma to children and families when concerns of abuse and violence arise. The Center coordinates the services available to child abuse victims and each year more than 1,000 children and their caretakers visit the CAC to talk about difficult events in their lives.
The CAC recently moved into new expanded space at the Boston Family Justice Center on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The new furniture will help make this space a friendlier and more welcoming environment for the children who use it.
“Bernie & Phyl’s cares about families in our community – including families and children that are in trouble and need help. We’re pleased that our furniture will help ease a stressful time for the people who come to the Children’s Advocacy Center,” said Bernie Rubin, co-founder and chairman of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture.
Norton, MA, September 16, 2005 – Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture is partnering with New England Patriot Vince Wilfork, WBCN, and the Mass Mentoring Partnership to encourage more people to get involved with mentoring kids. The company is sponsoring a major public service campaign called “Be a Champion for a Child,” which highlights the need for high-quality youth mentoring throughout Massachusetts. The spots star Bernie and Phyllis Rubin, co-founders of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, and Patriot’s nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who explain that there are thousands of children across the state in need of mentors. Currently, for every two kids matched with an adult, one remains on a mentoring program’s wait list.
In addition to the radio spots, one successful mentor and mentee pair will attend each home game of the season as Vince’s “match of the game” and have their stories told on the radio that day. At the end of October, Vince and Bernie and Phyl will take part in two special events at Bernie & Phyl’s stores (dates and times to be announced later), during which people will be able to learn about the rewards of mentoring.
“Mentoring was really important in my life and we at Bernie & Phyl’s are very excited about teaming up with Vince Wilfork of the Patriots. We hope to achieve ‘a touchdown’ for kids throughout the state by attracting more people to become mentors,” said Bernie Rubin.
Each January for the past four years, Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture has sponsored the National Mentoring Month public service campaign for the Mass Mentoring Partnership. The Partnership recently awarded the company the first Champions of Mentoring Award for their long-standing support and commitment to mentoring kids.
Norton, MA, September 6, 2005 — Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture’s recent child car seat safety event at its Saugus store was a major success, with nearly a hundred families having their car seats checked and/or reinstalled by the state police. This was the third year that Bernie & Phyl’s has sponsored this event at its Saugus location.
According to the Massachusetts State Police, every day four children are killed in car crashes in this country and many more are seriously injured. A child who is properly restrained in a car seat reduces his risk of death and injury by 71 percent. Sadly, the state police find that 98 percent of all the child safety seats they inspect are installed incorrectly. In addition to installation problems, some car seats are too old to be safe. At the Bernie & Phyl’s event, the police technicians replaced several because of their age, including one that was 18 years old.
“This was a great way to help out the families in our community and remind everyone that lives are saved when everyone is buckled up properly,” said Bernie Rubin, chairman of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture. “We were happy to be co-sponsors and the hosts for this popular event.”
