[caption id="attachment_68119" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Manhattan bar-owner Niamh Conway pictured with Alan Shatz, the manager of community relations and volunteer services at the New York Foundling."]
Niamh Conway knows how to design a bar. It's hardly surprising, then, that she would come up with innovative ideas for raising cash for a cause that she's passionate about.
From next Monday through Friday, customers can bring holiday gift cards worth $30 or more to any of her three Manhattan bars - Fiddlesticks, the Galway Hooker and the Galway Hooker Downtown -- and be rewarded with a two-hour open bar during the 3-6 p.m. happy hour.
The beneficiaries will be teenagers who are in the care of the New York Foundling. As reported recently in the Echo, Conway has raised more than $55,000 for that organization, but the holiday charity is aimed at an age category that, she believes, is often forgotten at this time of year.
Cards for iTunes, the Gap, Abercrombie, AT&T, she said, are the sort of gifts that would be most appreciated by the young people, the bar-owner said.
The Dubliner Conway took over as president of Fiddlesticks in the late 1990s when the original owner relocated back to Ireland. But it was another bar-owner, the late Eamonn Doran, who shaped her philosophy.
"He did a lot of work in the community," she recalled. "The bar is a place where you can help your neighbors. That was something I learnt from Eamonn years ago."
When it came to opening new establishments, Conway developed another key part of her philosophy: a bar should tell a story.
Her grandmother grew up in the seaport village of Kinvara on Galway Bay, and its famous sailboat, the Galway hooker, provided the name and inspiration for her second and third bars.
"The color of the sailboat is a beautiful orange and the bottom is ivory," she said. "So when you look around the bar, you'll see that burnt orange and the ebony."
For now, though, Conway
is focused on the fundraiser next week. But that's all
part of the job, as taught
to her by Doran: it's about community, celebration and helping.
"He was a good influence on me," Conway said.
The New York Foundling can be reached at 212-886-4043. For more information go to www.nyfoundling.org. To help Niamh Conway charitable efforts call 212-725-0555 or mail checks, payable to New York Foundling, to 133 Seventh Ave. South, New York, NY 10014.
