2023 Gala & Auction Recap

GALA & AUCTION 2023

RECAP

REFLECTING BACK AT THE

Annual GALA & AUCTION

For an impressive 17 years, the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest have proudly hosted our Annual Gala & Auction, and this year was no exception. On Thursday, October 19th, at The Verve Hotel in Natick, with the generous support of our presenting sponsor, TJX Companies, Inc., we gathered to make a difference for our community's youth. The event featured a vibrant cocktail hour, an exclusive dinner for 197 guests in attendance, and an exciting after-party.

HIGHLIGHTS

Our Annual Gala & Auction provides crucial support for the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest's mission, offering a safe space for youth to excel academically, engage with positive role models, and develop into confident leaders. Because of supporters like you, we are able to address a significant challenge.

AWARD RECIPIENTS

For many of the children we serve, reliable transportation can be the difference between accessing these life-changing programs or missing out. It's a barrier that stands between their potential and the opportunities we offer.

THANKS TO ALL 2023 SPONSORS

By contributing to our transportation fund, you play a direct role in breaking down these barriers and creating equal access for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

“LIVE-ISH” BIG TICKET ITEMS JEWELRY-PULL WINNER

Page 2 (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) every child in our community. Your support ensures that no child is left behind and that they can excel academically, engage with positive role models, and grow into confident leaders just like their peers. The event was a spectacular affair featuring a cocktail hour, a delectable dinner, an enticing jewelry pull raffle with a stunning diamond necklace provided by Wright Jewelry & Design, a captivating silent auction, and elegant decor sponsored by YG Companies & K&E Design. The event's AV, photography, videography, and entertainment were expertly handled by South Shore Sound & Lighting.

Our silent auction was a true highlight, boasting over 100 items ranging from luxury getaways to unforgettable experiences and coveted sports memorabilia. Even if you couldn't join us in person, you could still be part of the excitement, as supporters had the opportunity to register and participate virtually, bidding on these incredible auction items.

This year's Annual Gala & Auction was an outstanding success, thanks to the unwavering support of our community and sponsors. It reaffirms our commitment to providing our youth with the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. We are deeply grateful to everyone who played a part in making this event a resounding achievement!

We are delighted to share that we have successfully raised $152,500!

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A Letter FROM THE CEO

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I was excited to have welcomed our supporters to our 18th Annual Gala & Auction benefitting the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest. We were thrilled to be gathered back at The Verve Hotel to enjoy an evening of celebration, reflection, and vision.

We reference doing “whatever it takes” often. As an organization, this is our mantra; our promise; our commitment as we help youth become their best selves on their own paths to great futures. Our staff, we see it every day – our staff do whatever it takes to support the youth served by this organization and the community as a whole.

I’m proud to be the leader of this organization, but more importantly, I’m proud to be standing shoulder-toshoulder with some of the most dedicated, patient, qualified, and passionate staff. Together with our staff, with you and our community, we commit to doing whatever it takes.

On behalf of our staff, the Board of Directors, the youth and their families, thank you all for your support. We raised over $150,000 in support of our transportation needs. You’ll learn more about how a concept so simple – providing busses from the public schools to the Clubs – is the catalyst for forging strong paths, breaking down societal barriers, and most importantly, building great futures. We are honored to have earned your support. On behalf of the 3,200 youth who walk through the Club doors annually, thank you!

With appreciation

Chris Duane President & CEO

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Gala Award R E C I P I E N T S

Michael C. Sullivan AWARD

Community Partner FOR YOUTH AWARD

The Michael C. Sullivan Memorial Award is given annually to an individual, or couple, who demonstrates and commits exemplary time, talent, and treasure to the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest.

The Community Partner for Youth Award is an opportunity to recognize and thank a company, foundation, or community organization for their commitment to our community and their dedication to our mission.

This year, we are honored to present the Michael C. Sullivan Award to John and Pam Narahara.

The Narahara’s have been part of the Club family for almost 25 years. Both of their sons, Nick and Kyle, attended the Club when they were little and Kyle spent many afternoons and summers working at the Marlborough Club. In addition to supporting the Clubs financially, the Narahara’s show their appreciation to our staff each holiday season by supporting a staff appreciation luncheon. We are so lucky to have people like the Narahara’s on team BGCMW who believe in and advocate for the mission and impact.

CONGRATULATIONS, JOHN AND PAM!

We are proud to present Rail Trail Flatbread Co. with the 2023 Community Partner for Youth Award.

Rail Trail Flatbread Co. is a community oriented business in downtown Hudson that continues to support the Club and greater community! Every year, Rail Trail Flatbread Co. hosts their “Flapjacks and Flatbreads” event on Father’s Day, where they raise funds for the Club. This event has raised more than $30,000 for the Club. We are lucky enough to have Jason Kleinerman, a co-owner of the restaurant group, on our operations committee. Thank you to the entire Rail Trail Flatbread Co. team for all of their support!

CONGRATULATIONS!

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AlumniImpact

AWARD

The Alumni Impact Award was created in 2021 to honor a former Club Kid or staff member who continues to support the Clubs with their time, passion, and talents.

This year’s award goes to an incredibly deserving alumni of the Framingham Clubhouse, Clarabelle Valcin.

Clarabelle graduated from UMass Dartmouth 2021 with a degree in Psychology and most recently graduated from Boston College with a Masters of Social Work in Clinical Social Work.

Clarabelle’s journey has been supported by the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest since she was a little girl and we couldn’t ask for a better role model for our younger members.

Congratulations, Clarabelle!

ELEVATING FUNDRAISING WITH LIVE-ISH AUCTION Over the years, the BGCMW Gala & Auction has undergone significant transformations to enhance the experience and increase its fundraising potential. This year, a major innovation was the introduction of a LIVE-ish auction, which added an exciting dimension to the event. During a dedicated hour, six exclusive, high-value items were featured.

These items included unique experiences and luxurious getaways such as the opportunity to become a race car driver at the New London Waterford Speedbowl, an exquisite getaway at the Cliff House in Maine, a complete Boston Bruins experience with exclusive Bruins merchandise and tickets to a game, the chance of a lifetime to explore Croatia and Montenegro, $1000 worth of gift cards for Sunoco gas stations, and a lavish experience at Encore Casino in Boston, complete with a $500 gift card to Rare Steakhouse.

The inclusion of these high-ticket items brought an element of excitement and competitiveness to the event, as attendees both in the room and virtually engaged in spirited bidding wars. This not only made the gala more entertaining, but also helped raise substantial funds for the BGCMW's important cause. The evolving nature of the BGCMW Gala & Auction showcases the organization's commitment to innovation and engagement in its fundraising efforts.

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Light The Room Blue

Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest provides safe places, caring mentors and life-enhancing programs that prepare kids and teens for great futures. Every young person deserves to be well prepared for life after school. We do "whatever it takes." This is our mantra, our promise, our commitment, as we help kids become their best selves on their paths to great futures. Focusing on key areas, we create safe places, provide caring mentorship, support youth mental health needs, and bridge the workforce readiness gap. As a facility-based organization, youth have access to a broad range of intentional learning activities on a daily basis. BGCMW positively impacts 3,200 youth annually from the moment they enter the door until they leave at night, every day.

A core belief of the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest is that every child should have access to after-school programming that exposes youth to the outside world and to the endless possibilities for their futures.

Unfortunately, access to these high-quality after-school programs is not a given for many families. The ability to locate and enroll in beneficial enrichment activities outside of school is often impacted by numerous factors including family income, neighborhood safety, community resources - and transportation. Oftentimes, we (as a community) think of concentrated poverty as the cause of the inability to access high-quality after-school programs. And this lack of access places these youth at a disadvantage in terms of both skill development and future opportunities. The Clubs have worked tirelessly to ensure that concentrated poverty is not the reason that youth lack access to high-quality after-school programs.

In order to achieve our mission of providing safe places, the Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest is committed to ensuring that all barriers to access are eliminated. The three barriers that the Clubs strive to address daily are the financial barrier, the language barrier, and the access barrier. The Clubs are offered to all youth for only $25 per year, per member, and where needed, the Club provides financial assistance towards this fee. Across our three locations, more than 50% of our staff are bi-lingual, speaking English and Spanish or Portuguese. And finally, in order to ensure all youth have access to our facilities, we are located within the neighborhoods where the majority of our youth members reside and we contract with local bus companies to provide transportation from the public schools to the Clubs each day.

There is a common misconception that the busses that drop off at the Clubs are part of the public school contracts. This is not the case. The Clubs are responsible for securing their own contracts and the recent widespread shortage of bus drivers has created a massive challenge. As we head into the 2023 - 2024 school year, we have contracts with three different bus companies to secure 10 daily busses that range in price from $190 to $210 per day, per bus. The Clubs will spend approximately $365,000 this school year in transportation alone. Just five years ago, our total organization budget for transportation for school year and summer was $180,000.

In order to offset this fee, we have implemented a parent/guardian fee of $50 per month towards transportation costs. However, we still receive more than 70% of families requesting financial assistance for this fee. Because we will never turn a child away because of their family's inability to pay, we are committed to finding external funding sources to support this expense.

Please consider making a meaningful gift and in turn, helping us light the room blue.

YOU CAN STILL SUPPORT OUR CLUBS BY VISITING THE LINK BELOW OR SCANNING THE QR CODE !

www.bgcmetrowest.org/donate

Youth of the Year

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CONGRATS, NIHJAE PERKINS!

To learn more about Nihjae, please visit www.bgcmetrowest.org/youth-of-the-year

Special Thanks to our JEWELRY-PULL SPONSOR

Club supporters had the chance to win a 2 Carat Diamond Solitaire Pendant in 14K White Gold valued at $6,500!

Congrats to Nick Jaworek, our Jewelry-Pull Winner!

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PRESENTING SPONSOR

Special THANKS TO OUR GALA SPONSOR'S DESSERT SPONSOR

EXCLUSIVE JEWELRY SPONSOR

PHOTO BOOTH SPONSOR

ENTERTAINMENT & PHOTOGRAPHER SPONSOR

DECOR & CENTERPIECE SPONSORS

EVENT SPONSORS THE CORKIN FAMILY

WE EXTEND OUR HEARTFELT GRATITUDE TO ALL OF OUR AUCTION SPONSORS! 110 Grill 99 Restaurant Al Lane's The Racing School Alibi Bar & Lounge Altitude Trampoline Park American Flatbread American Girl Doll Anonymous Apex Entertainment Applebees Armsby Abbey Arturo's Ashland Ale House Atlantic Poke Attitash Mountain Village Baba Sushi Basil n'Spice Thai Cuisine Bay Spirit Tours Bayside Resort

Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center

Big Night Blue Ribbon BBQ Board & Brush Creative Studio Bob's Discount Furniture Boston By Foot Boston Harbor City Cruises Boston Harbor Distillery Boston Red Sox Briar Group Buttonwood Park Zoo Buttonwood Restaurant Cape Codder Resort & Spa Cardi's Furniture & Mattress Celebrity Series of Boston Central Rock Gym Charles Riverboat Company Chipotle Cliff House Maine Coan Heating & Cooling CraftRoots Brewery Craig Fitness Dan'l Webster Inn & Spa Davis Farmland & Davis Mega Maze Deadhorse Hill Dental Associates Of Marborough Discovery Museum Dr. Greens Golf & Entertainment Embassy Suites by Hilton Encore Boston Harbor Flight Club Social Darts Framingham Margaritas Friendly's Ice Cream Gibbet Hill Grill Gorjana GourmetGiftBaskets.com Gouveia Vineyards Great Wolf Lodge New England Gymja Warrior Hammond Castle Museum

Ragged Mountain Rail Trail Flatbread Company Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Hawthorne Hotel Razor Hillside Grill Red Rock Grill & Bar Hilton Garden Inn Worcester Regal Princess Parties Holly Ridge Golf Club Roche Bros.

Honey Baby Rockport Inn and Suites Honey Dew Donuts Roger Williams Park Zoo Horseshoe Pub Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites Hunter's Kitchen & Bar Salem Witch Museum Hurricane's at the Garden Salted Soul Acton Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises ScrubaDub Hy-Line Cruises Sereni Salon & Spa Infusion Art Glass Shaws Supermarket Inn At Hastings Park Skybokx109 InnSeason Resorts Pollard Brook Splitsville & Howl at the Moon Jam Time Sport Clips Jasmin Taliadouros Stella Custom Cakes John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Sterling Golf Management Jordan's Furniture Steve Cannon Massage Therapy & Jump Nation Personal Training Kendra Scott Stow Acres Country Club Kimball Farm Swan Boats of Boston Knockouts Haircuts for Men - Framingham Symphony Hall Launch Entertainment Target Learning Express of Westborough Target Painting & Contracting Legal Sea Foods Tavistock Restaurant Less Than Greater Than Tavolino - Westborough Level99 The Cheesecake Factory Life Time Athletic The Common Man Live Action Escapes Worcester The Essex Steam Train & Riverboat Living Harmony The Fix Burger Bar Lookout Farm Brewing & Cider Co. The Great Escape Room Lowell's Restaurant The Margate on Winnipesaukee Lyric Stage Company of Boston The Sports Museum Mallory Portraits The Tasty Marlborough Country Club The Whalers Inn Massachusetts Bay Lines The Williams Inn MetroRock Littleton Thistle and Leek Miss Worcester Diner Tomasso Trattoria Moodz Spa Salon & Boutique Total Wine & More Nashoba Valley Ski Area Trader Joe's Framingham New City MicroCreamery Travel Twitch - Rade Bogavac New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill TreeTop Adventures New England Revolution VinKari Safari Nordic Village Resort Wachusett Mountain North Shore Music Theatre Welly's Restaurant Ocean House Collection West Village Tavern Off The Beaten Path Food Tours White Mountain Hotel & Resort Old Sturbridge Village Whiz Kids STEM Parties & More Olive Garden Wings over Worcester One Energy Winston Flowers Osteria Nino XV Beacon Paddle Boston Zoo New England Pammy's Restaurant Zuma Pats Peak Ski Area Pinz PuzzlEscape Hudson Hand & Stone

Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts