Consider the Casbah Rocked!
On February 11th, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay hosted its largest fundraising event of the year: Big Night 2.0. The House of Blues was transformed into a Moroccan Oasis complete with snake charmers, belly dancers, silks and sundries. Billy Costa, co-host of Kiss 108’s Matty in the Morning Show as well as host of NECN’s TV Diner, served as the event’s emcee with help from comedian and actor Lenny Clarke. The evening’s entertainment included Grammy-nominated Raphael Saadiq and headliner, the Counting Crows. Raphael Saadiq opened the show with his upbeat Motown-style songs and the Counting Crows took the phrase “Rocking the Casbah” to a whole new level. Both bands were so moved by the power of BBBSMB programs that they decided to autograph guitars to auction off onsite to help raise additional funds to support children in need.
One of the evening’s highlights included the presentation of the James J. Pallotta Award which recognizes an individual who has engaged the community in supporting children in need and whose efforts have had significant impact on their lives. This year’s recipient, Gerald Chertavian, is the founder of Year Up, an organization whose mission is to eliminate the opportunity divide for urban youth. On hand to surprise Gerald was his Little Brother of 25 years, David Heredia. Guests learned that Gerald’s experience as a Big Brother and his friendship with David inspired him to found his organization: proof of the power of BBBSMB to not only impact one child’s life but to transform our communities. To learn more about Gerald and David’s friendship, click
here
.
The sold-out event brought more than 900 people to the House of Blues in support of BBBSMB where a total of $1.7M was raised to help transform the lives of children in our community.
Big Night’s success will help Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay continue to provide important services to children facing adversity by matching them with a caring, adult mentor.
The agency would like to thank everyone who helped make Big Night 2.0 an amazing event. The generosity and dedication of donors will enable BBBMSB to support more than 2,000 children with a Big of their own this year. To support BBBS, click here:
Donate
Interested in learning how you can get involved with Big Night? Contact Tricia Keck,
tkeck@bbbsmb.org
or 617-956-0237.