It takes a community

The season of giving is nearly here. In anticipation of enlarged holiday hearts, a group of women from Salon De La Mer in Bellmore is enlisting local businesses to start giving back to the community.

From Merrick to Seaford, 14 businesses on Merrick Road, including De La Mer, are participating in a promotional charity that offers savings to customers and benefits local charities, including the Heather on Earth Music Foundation, the Nicole Schiffman Foundation, the Carol Kestenbaum Foundation and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. "It just came to me at our Thursday night meeting," said Suzette Garren, head of marketing and buying development for De La Mer.

In about two weeks, Garren, of Bellmore, and salon owners Esther DiDonna and Maria Medina, both of Merrick, organized the fundraiser that allows participating retailers to sell cards for $40. Proceeds from the sale are split evenly among the four charities, and card carriers receive discounts at all cooperating businesses.

"Everybody was touched by all four of these charities," DiDonna said, noting the women chose organizations with roots in the community.

The Nicole Schiffman foundation and the Carol Kestenbaum Foundation were created in honor of two Kennedy High School graduates, both of Bellmore, who were murdered at Arizona State University in 2007. The Heather on Earth Music Foundation helps children coping with serious illness, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation is world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors -- a disease from which Medina herself is recovered.

"We want people to feel good when they buy the card," DiDonna said, as she and the other women were preparing to host one of the final meetings for participating businesses.

Together, Garren, DiDonna and Medina rallied a community, printed cards and posters, and set in motion a movement they hope will last for years to come. "People are going to look for this next year," DiDonna said.