New Sharon Business Puts the Gift In Gift Basket

Lesley Engelson and Roberta Fishman put lobster gummies, authentic Vermont maple syrup, and Cape Cod Potato Chips into one basket in the basement of Engelson's Sharon home.

And donated 10 percent of this gift basket's price to charity.

The Sharon residents are approaching the first anniversary of Baskets for Benefits, the gift basket business they started last year.

The baskets are filled with items related to the occasion and the recipient. A donation card accompanying the basket states where Engelson and Fishman have donated 10 percent of the sale.

"Both of us have had our careers, we've had our families, and now it's time to take it to the next step," says Fishman, who worked in administration and management for Arthur Andersen, and was the cantorial soloist for the former Temple Israel of the South Shore for 30 years. That congregation and Sharon's Congregation Klal Yisrael merged into Sharon's in 2010.

"But we also knew that both of us are philanthropic and charitable. We wanted to do something that not only amused us, but also provided gifts for people to make people happy and also provided charities the benefit of donations of various sorts."

One large company ordered a New England basket.

"They wanted to put together something to represent New England, because that's where they're based. But these baskets have been shipped all over the country," Fishman says.

The basket includes "all authentic, original, manufactured in New England product," she says. The recipient also gets a printout explaining "the significance of those particular products," she says.

Engelson says clients can designate a charity for Baskets for Benefits' donation.

She and Fishman also identify a charity each month as another option. "This month, it's Autism Speaks, which is big in Sharon," Engelson says. And the Baskets for Benefits website invites people to designate their charity electronically. Fishman says donations also can support groups' fundraisers.

One recent client designated their gift toward Parkinson's disease research, Engelson says.

This week, a lawyer ordered the basket for a family they had done paperwork for to facilitate buying a home.

"It's like a housewarming gift," says Engelson, who worked in quality management for Boston Scientific.

"And the people who got the gift will think, 'Wow, I'll use that lawyer again for something else.'"

Engelson and Fishman say they hope to grow their business into a different location.

For now, Fishman says, they have a shelf at in Post Office Square. The UPS Store in the Village Shops at Cobb's Corner carries baskets as well.

"We're in the throes of trying to come up with a Passover survival kit for those students who are struggling through the holidays," Fishman says.