Devising a Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

The East Midtown Partnership is creating a team challenge event to connect residents with local businesses and raise money for charity

East Midtown Anyone up for this challenge? Raise money for the homeless, unite lawyers with locals, and support small businesses all in one afternoon.

The East Midtown Partnership definitely is - in fact, they created it.

The Great East Midtown Challenge will take place on Wednesday, June 11, and the $50 team registration fee will be go towards assisting the Partnership's Homeless Outreach Program.

Hoping to lure upper-crust laborers from their woodgrain desks and out onto the streets to mingle with community dwellers, EMP President Rob Byrnes and his team have created a classy scavenger hunt of sorts.

While the event is geared at being a team building exercise - think bonding with the summer interns - it's also a great way to rally crowds of people to run up on local shops, restaurants, and spas as they search for clues and answer questions about the nabe.

For example, you might be asked, "Which aerial form of transportation has linked Manhattan to Roosevelt Island since 1976?" The answer, of course, is The Roosevelt Island Tram, and that's where the next challenge would await your team.

"It's not really a trivia event. The goal is fun, not a test of minutia," said Byrnes. "It's sort of 'scavenger hunt meets Amazing Race.'"

There will also be interactive challenges, like sinking a putt on the putting green at Golfsmith, (641 Lexington Avenue), passing a blind wine-tasting test at Amali (115 East 60th Street) and completing a Pilates-related challenge created by Power Pilates (920 Third Avenue).

The best part, of course, is that it's all for a good cause.

A few years back, the EMP signed a contract with Bowery Rescue Mission Residents' Committee to help extend their reach to homeless people all along the east side-not just downtown. As a result, they've helped reach homeless individuals living in and passing through several communities in an effort to meet their needs and integrate them back into productive livelihoods.

The EPM is a neighborhood BID that provides various neighborhood initiatives, like a streetside recycling program that's actually one of the largest in the nation, and beautification efforts like flower planting and other lovely stuff.

An undoubtedly fabulous reception will be awaiting everyone at the end of the line...after all that darting around, you may want to reapply deodorant before you get there.