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“Son Continues Foundation’s Thread” from the Wall Street Journal

By MELANIE GRAYCE WEST

Five decades ago, Scott Fishman’s father, Jerry, got together a group of about 10 garment center professionals for the purpose of helping peers during rough times, be it a mortgage bill that needed to be paid or extra cash for someone between jobs. In a nod to the profession, they called their charity the Needlers Foundation

Today, the Needlers Foundation is still going strong. Over the last 45 or so years, the group has directed its donations to a number of children’s causes, explains Mr. Fishman, 56 years old, president of the Needlers Foundation and president of his family’s apparel business, Avin International, a New York-based ladies clothing and manufacturing company.

The group of roughly 1,700 members – which now includes doctors, lawyers and other professionals – charges $100 a year in membership and hosts several fundraisers. A recent golf tournament raised more than $250,000 and this year the group will host a 50th anniversary gala to be held on October 17.

The gala will honor Thomas Kingsbury, president and chief executive of Burlington Coat Factory, and is expected to raise $2 million. “We’ll have over 1,200 people at $1,000 or $1,500 a head, you make a lot of dough,” says Mr. Fishman.

In a good year, the foundation will give over $2 million in grants, he says. Over the years, some $25 million has been donated to children’s causes.

Beneficiaries include Roosevelt Hospital, where the foundation sponsors the Hyman-Newman Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery, better known as the INN, a center for endovascular surgery. There, the Needlers created a pediatric intensive care unit.

Most of the patients who benefit from the money that the Needlers donate to the INN don’t have the means to cover costly pediatric neurosurgery operations. Many come from other countries.

“We absolutely pay for the whole thing for them,” explains Mr. Fishman. “We bring them in from Afghanistan and Nairobi. We bring them in from anywhere to try and help them. And when you see that at the INN, your heart goes out. You don’t believe what good work you’ve done.”

Mr. Fishman says that it’s “pretty cool” to follow in his father’s footsteps by leading the Needlers. The elder Mr. Fishman, 79, still comes to work at Avin International every day and is still involved with the foundation. (A brother, Andrew Fishman, also serves on the Needlers board of directors.) Mr. Fishman says his father, who is a generally charitable guy, began the foundation with the inspiration that it was just “the right thing to do.”

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