“The 25th Annual Snowball”
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 07 December 2011 16:43
- Written by Amy Dee
Local fund supports three worthy non-profits
Since the Snowball’s inception in 1987, the event has grown from 270 attendees to 1500 attendees and last Friday I was one of them. The evening began with a Black Diamond Reception where select V.I.P. attendees including Kennedy Elsey, of Mix 104.1, Dana Bisbee long-time Snowballer and photog for the Improper Bostonian, as well as the man behind BostonTweet, Tom O’Keefe, who all shared glasses of champagne and toasted to the evening’s three beneficiaries; Computer Clubhouse, Girls’ LEAP and The City School.
Other notables that were spotted around the evening were Co-Founders Todd Kurland, Liz Callanan and Andy Graham along with the evenings Co-Chairs, Katy Keogh and Scott Hultman. (All of who are pictured on this issue’s cover.) One-hundred percent of the evening’s proceeds supported this year’s chosen Beneficiaries and the 1,500 Snowballers were able to further contribute to the fund beyond their ticket purchase by participating in a mock casino, photo-booth and roughly 75 silent auction items were up for grabs.
My favorite part of the evening was speaking to representatives of the three Beneficiaries.
Learning more about the Computer Clubhouse, Girls’ LEAP and The City School reminded me that it really does take a village to raise our younger members of society and how together we can ensure a better tomorrow for our children and children’s children.
Both the Computer Clubhouse and The City School were first time applicants to Santa Claus Anonymous and couldn’t have been more thrilled to be apart of the spotlight for the evening.
The Museum of Science, based but not-funded by, Computer Clubhouse is supported by the MIT Media Lab and is a mentoring program that provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where teens, ages 10-18, work with mentors to explore their own ideas, develop skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology. As the program’s director, Gail Breslow, explained to me, the clubhouse looks to cultivate “whatever it is that mentors sense is a strong interest of a student’s whether that be skateboarding, film, T.V., chess – you name it – and further develop the interest and explore options for the future through the use of technology and media.
(For more information: computerclubhouse. org)
In this economy, which barely supports job creation for anyone, it was nice to hear The City School is providing a means to a more than forgotten group of unemployed individuals; our teenagers, ages 16 and up. Imagine having to pay for college yourself and not having a job? The City School works to prepare their students for employment and helps ensure employment and internship opportunities for their roughly 400 students. Their mission is too focus the opportunities they create to focus on leadership so that their students can continue to fight for social justice. (For more information: thecityschool.org) Girl’s LEAP, whose representatives were volunteers from Northeastern University, offers free safety, selfdefense and empowerment program for Boston girls ages 8-18. They seek to raise awareness, build decisionmaking skills and foster personal confidence to create safer communities and safer lives. Through their program girls learn communication, confidence, conflict-resolution and self-advocacy. The organization has been applying to the SCA fund for several years now and being selected is a true testament to the organizations long-standing importance here in the Greater Boston area. (For more information: girlsleap.org) The Snowball was an amazing evening of smart, foot-forward individuals who know the value of our tomorrow is in our younger generations. I was thrilled to learn more about the Santa Claus Anonymous team, inception and cause.
The SCA is also a full volunteer based organization and could use your help to continue to support worthy organizations. For more information on Santa Claus Anonymous and to be involved in the 26th Annual Snowball please visit www.scaboston.org and be sure to check out our web coverage of the evening at DirtyWaterNews.com.
