MEDIA ALERT
CONTACT: Rebecca Nason
BUFFALO, NEW YORK (May 20, 2022) –
WHEN & WHAT – Kevin Guest House invites Buffalo to the 29th Annual Affaire of the Heart tonight – Friday, May 20, 2022 at the historic Buffalo Club. The signature event will feature excellent food, wine, raffles and an virtual online auction. Supporters have the option to enjoy catered dinners, wine and bidding safely from their homes as pickup & delivery are also available.
HISTORY – As America’s first independent healthcare hospitality house, Kevin Guest House was founded in 1972 by Claudia & Cyril Garvey from Sharon, Pennsylvania. It was named after Kevin Garvey, their 13-year-old son who passed away after his 18-month battle against leukemia away from home.
WHO:
Hugh Garvey, Founding Family Member
Lynsey Zimdahl Weaver, Executive Director
PRESS ITEM: Celebrating our golden 50th Anniversary, we will be announcing our KGH50 campaign publicly and Hugh Garvey, youngest brother of Kevin has travelled from Ohio to introduce our efforts to our community. The “KGH50” Campaign is a $1.5 Million multi-project initiative to bring our three original properties up to the same standard of hospitality achieved by opening our newest building at 766 Ellicott Street, as recommended by our healthcare partners as a result of the changes from the pandemic to safely serve our future guests. Hugh and his wife Nina have kickstarted the campaign with a $100,000 gift and along with his siblings have offered to match the next donations up to an additional $100,000 by raising funds for the campaign. Campaign info – https://kevinguesthouse.com/kgh50/.
Hugh Garvey said,
“50 years ago, when others couldn’t see through their tears after the tragedy of losing a child to cancer, Mom and Dad envisioned Kevin Guest House. Please help others by joining Nina and me by donating to our one and only 50th Anniversary Campaign. Your donation will be used for vital upgrades to Kevin’s House, bringing it up to 21st century standards and ensuring 50 more years of love, hope and compassion for those less fortunate. Many thanks and God Bless.”
EVENT – The Affaire of the Heart will take place from 6:30-10:00 PM on May 20 at the Buffalo Club, 388 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, NY 14202. The event includes gourmet food and wine pairings with live music from The Kristen Smigielski Quarter and Vincent Bonelli, a formal award presentation, along with a wine wall, Mystery Hearts, getaway raffle, basket raffle and online auction. The VIP experience includes a pre-party lounge featuring a sommelier, wine and hors d’oeuvre pairing, specialty seating in the music lounge, reserved seating for the program and name recognition on the event website.
More information is available at https://kevinguesthouse.com/events/aoh/.
“As our community moves forward through the tragedy from last week, it is important at events such as Affaire of the Heart to celebrate the love and compassion Kevin Guest House and so many others bring to our City of Good Neighbors with the hope of drowning out hate. We are bringing supporters together at this event again but in an adapted way,” said Lynsey Weaver, Executive Director of Kevin Guest House.
“Affaire of the Heart has been our signature event for 29 years and we wanted to continue the tradition and introduce critical changes to our campus needed to be able to serve as many guests as we did prior to the pandemic once again. During the pandemic, shared common spaces & bathrooms in the aging original properties revealed greater risks to immunocompromised guests, with old HVAC systems and decades old materials being difficult to thoroughly clean. This campaign will allow the KGH to add private bathrooms in the main house, make durable upgrades in structure & safety and materials that are easier to clean and meet healthcare standards now requested to serve the most compromised patients & caregivers”
All proceeds will benefit Kevin Guest House and their mission to provide a comfortable and supportive home away from home for patients and their families traveling to Buffalo, New York for medical care. Serving more than 60,000 guests since opening, Kevin Guest House accommodates 2,000 guest annually. The Buffalo hospitality house will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary on July 26, 2022, the date the organization served it’s first guest in 1972.
To learn more about Kevin Guest House visit KevinGuestHouse.org or call 716-882-1818.
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Platinum Sponsors Include:
Gold Sponsors Include:
Howard Hanna
National Grid
Premier Group
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Upstate Pharmacy
Additional Silver Sponsors include:
Keller Bros. & Miller, Inc.
National Fuel
Drs Christina Tobin & Thomas Schwaab
Drs Stephen Edge & Cynthia Swain * Marty & Nancy Krebs
