East Coast Jewelry’s First Annual Gems of Time

The Golden Boy, aka East Coast Jewelry’s Bobby Yampolsky, gives back.

By Stephanie Wilson

[highlight_text] With this prestigious event further enhancing the appeal of society in Miami, we have the Yampolskys to thank. [/highlight_text]

With high season upon us, South Florida’s society will doubtlessly attend a plethora of charity balls and events, all that benefit this or that, and all of which urge the gala-goers to break out their wallets for a good cause.
This March, the East Coast Jewelry Gems of Time Invitational will take a different route; the entire day of festivities, designed to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida, is a complimentary day of activity at one of the city’s most exclusive locales, the La Gorce Country Club.
Planning for the elaborate day began nearly eight months ago when East Coast Jewelry’s owners Bobby and Michael Yampolsky decided that they wanted to share their success by launching a charity golf tournament. That initial idea took on a life of its own, thanks in large part to the work of East Coast Jewelry’s Steven Schwartz, Randi Berger, and Melissa Frantz, whose dedication and commitment have allowed this idea of a golf tournament to flourish into the Gems of Time Foundation, which, on March 17 will host the first annual East Coast Jewelry Gems of Time Invitational, Golf Classic & Texas Hold’Em to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida.

This event will be a unique manifestation of the Yampolskys’ original desire for a golf classic that will bring people together for a good cause without forcing them to make a donation. Schwartz explains, “We are trying to reach out to this charity without asking our guests to reach into their pockets. We are asking our sponsors to do that.” Thanks to the Yampolskys’ reputation as pillars of the community, sponsors responded in droves to be a part of this monumental day. Thus, the list of sponsors and events is staggering. The 24-hour celebration will begin on Sunday, March 16 with a “Swiss Luxury Meets Asian Glamour” cocktail reception at the Setai, sponsored by Vacheron Constantin. Former Miami Dolphin Louis Oliver will host the following day’s festivities, which kick off the morning of March 17 with a brunch at 10:30 at La Gorce Country Club, which has been generous enough to open up their pristine facilities for the day of glamour, good times, and giving back. The day’s main event, the Ulysses Nardin Golf Classic, sponsored by Talon Air and The Cliffs, will begin at 12:30 pm. This complimentary afternoon of golf will be hosted by Brett Quigley, Nicholas Thompson, and other golf greats, who will further enhance the caliber of the afternoon. “We will have PGA pros on all the par threes, and there will be contests with the pros,” says Berger. “There will be chances for guests in their own way to be able to buy in and be part of a win-win situation, a win for the charity, and a win for themselves.”

While 125 individuals are enjoying the course at any given time, others are invited to bet big at the Corum Texas Hold’Em tournament, hosted by Aquasino. While the men putt and call, the ladies who lunch sector can, well, lunch, while indulging in the Vintage Wine Room, which will display the Daniel Roth Collection of fine watches, or at the “Enchanted Afternoon Luncheon,” which is kicked off by a Veuve Clicquot reception and mid-day Medical Spa by Medici Institute, followed by the luncheon by de Grisogono.

And of course, a day brought to you by East Coast Jewelry wouldn’t be complete without a bounty of jewels, which will be displayed in the East Coast Jewelry Village, sponsored by Molasses Reef. The diamond-studded village will showcase “what many want, and few can have,” with proceeds from the sales going to Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida. And based on the caliber of the guest list at this event, most of those in attendance can indeed afford these luxuries. The list of invitees reads like a who’s who of Southern Florida and beyond, with foreign dignitaries to boot. With such a high caliber of invitees, the invitation process was not left up to chance. East Coast Jewelry enlisted the help of Trust Event Solution’s magnificent software, effectively streamlining the invite and RSVP process.

The sexes will reunite after the golf and poker ends for the anticipated Bubble Hour, a champagne reception with “bubbles in the air and in the glass,” which comes complete with a swimsuit fashion show highlighting U-Boat timepieces and the Leo Pizzo diamond collection. To cap off the day, the “Enchanted Gala” sponsored by the Ft. Lauderdale Collection will provide cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, and award ceremony, complete with Cirque-style performances compliments of The Faces of Ulysses Nardin.

“But the real issue here, what makes this event different, is that this is the first time I can remember, for a charity committed tied in with a major retailer, where the vendors picked up 100 percent of the sponsorship, and East Coast Jewelry is liable for all the donations that will be given to Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida,” explains Schwartz.

With this prestigious event further enhancing the appeal of society in Miami, we have the Yampolskys to thank. As Schwartz explains, “Without the leverage the Yampolskys have thanks to more than 20 years in this business, it couldn’t come together.” And without the support of the sponsors, the invitational would not be as magical as it promises to be.