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An Emerald Evening 2009 sets a new record raising over $350,000! |
GreenLight Fund supporters continue to step up in a big way. An Emerald Evening, held in December of 2009, was sponsored by Long's Jewelers and Rounder Records, and raised a record $350,000 for GreenLight's four portfolio organizations, which are now collectively serving more than 12,000 low-income children and families in the Boston area.
From left to right: Susan Simon, John Simon, Alissa Sebstian, Jack Sebastian, Eric Fischman, Wendy Fischman, Ben Fischman.
The GreenLight Fund continues its year-long effort to report the results of its first five years to its supporters and community stakeholders who are vital partners in this work. During the dinner program, more than 450 guests at An Emerald Evening heard these results and learned about the early impact of Friends of the Children-Boston, Raising A Reader-MA, Peer Health Exchange and Youth Villages' Transitional Living program. After dinner, the guests danced to the music of The Flip Side and enjoyed prizes from Rue La La, Rounder Records and Long's Jewelers.
The GreenLight Fund would like to extend a special thank you to all of the event sponsors for their continued support of GreenLight and its portfolio organizations: Long's Jewelers, Rounder Records, anonymous, Berkshire Partners, Charlesbank Capital Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, Credit Suisse, Gayané and Tom Ebling, The Fischman Family and Rue La La, General Catalyst Partners, Goldman Sachs & Co., Goodwin Procter LLP, Howard Fischer Associates International, John Hancock Financial Services, The Kozin Family, Life is good, Mocospace, Polachi Access Executive Search, Proskauer Rose LLP, The Rottenberg Family, Roberta and Bill Schnoor, Susan and John Simon, Jessica and Hemant Taneja, and Year Up.
Click here to view photos of the evening.
Be sure to save the date for An Emerald Evening 2010 - Friday, December 3rd! |
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John Simon Featured in Worth Magazine |  GreenLight Fund board chair and co-founder John Simon was featured in the December-January 2010 issue of Worth Magazine. The article titled, Venture Philanthropist begins, "John Simon's GreenLight searches the country for charities' best ideas and brings them to Boston. But what Simon really wants to do is reinvent philanthropy nationwide." Click here to read the full article. |
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2010 VCs vs. Entrepreneurs Golf Tournament
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On Tuesday, June 15th, Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs will gather for the annual Ryder Cup-style golf tournament for a day of friendly competition to benefit GreenLight Fund's portfolio organizations.
Thank you to our sponsors to date: General Catalyst Partners, Polachi Access Executive Search, Square 1 Bank, CitationAir, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, fama PR, Goodwin Procter LLP, North Bridge Venture Partners, .406 Ventures, Bowne of Boston, Breakaway Ventures, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, Foley & Lardner LLP, Grant Thornton LLP, JDJ Resources, Kodiak Venture Partners, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, Monderer Design, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney/Zimmerman Trethewey Group, OnForce, Oracle, PrismVenture Works, SAP America, Inc, Stage 1 Ventures, Summerhill Venture Partners, Summit Partners and Venator Partners.
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| Friends of the Children-Boston Update |
 For Friends of the Children-Boston (Friends-Boston), this year's annual holiday gift and meal drive proved to be the most successful yet. The 2009 holiday season was made brighter for Friends-Boston's 225 Achievers and their siblings who received colorfully wrapped gifts. These gifts were made possible by the generosity of hundreds of Fidelity Investments employees through their "Frosty's Friends Program." The holiday gift and meal drive was also supported by generous donations from Convexity Capital Management which supplied 105 holiday meals for Achievers and families as well as Mount Washington Bank which provided meals and special services for three families in need of extra holiday support. Friends-Boston thanks these loyal partners for their support in helping Achievers and families celebrate a wonderful and warm holiday season.
Friends-Boston is a revolutionary prevention/early intervention mentoring organization that helps children living in at-risk communities develop the relationships, goals, and skills necessary to break the cycles of poverty, abuse or violence in order to become contributing members of society.
Click here to visit the Friends-Boston website |
| Raising A Reader-MA Update |
 This past fall, 40 Raising A Reader-MA (RAR-MA) supporters brought their bikes to Foxboro, MA, to take part in the 2009 Rodman Ride for Kids. With all of the riders' hard work, the support of the Rodman Ride for Kids, and the generosity of the Shoolman Foundation, RAR-MA exceeded its fundraising goal and raised over $320,000.
RAR-MA continues to train parents of the children RAR-MA reaches. At trainings, parents learn fun and simple read-aloud techniques that they can use even if they do not read well themselves or do not read the language of a particular book. Parents return home understanding how critical book reading and playful, engaging talking are to their child's brain development. Parents are also prepared to succeed in their most important role -- their child's first teacher.
Last December, CAPIC Head Start in Chelsea held a meeting for parents and invited RAR-MA Program Coordinator Sarah Mountcastle, to speak about the importance of sharing stories with children at home. A record 54 parents attended the event. Ana, a RAR-MA parent who attended the event shared, "I love to read to my daughter, but I never realized how much fun it could be. I felt like a kid again!"
RAR-MA is an early literacy, reading readiness, family bonding program. It engages parents in daily book sharing with their children from birth to age five, to improve healthy brain development, parent-child bonding, and the early literacy skills critical for success in kindergarten and beyond.
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| Peer Health Exchange Update |
 On March 1st, Sonal Shah, director of the new White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, visited a Peer Health Exchange (PHE) workshop at Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester. Ms. Shah was the keynote speaker at the Harvard Social Enterprise conference, and requested to visit an "innovative nonprofit" during her visit to Boston. The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard selected PHE.
Ms. Shah, with Harvard representatives, observed PHE workshops on Healthy Relationships, Abusive Relationships, and a new pilot workshop on Mental Health. PHE volunteers from Harvard, Boston University and Tufts also shared their volunteer experiences with the guests after the workshop. PHE was recently featured on WBUR's Radio Boston. The piece aired on May 20th and begins with a pre-recorded segment from a PHE workshop followed by a 10-minute live, on-air discussion featuring Dr. Alice Mark, PHE board member and fellow in family planning at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Boston University School of Medicine, and Jill Carter, Wellness Coordinator from the Boston Public Schools. Click here to listen to the segment.
Peer Health Exchange (PHE) gives teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions by recruiting and training college student volunteers to teach a comprehensive health curriculum in Boston public high schools.
PHE volunteers with Sonal Shah (second from left) at a PHE workshop.
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| Youth Villages-MA Update |
 Since Youth Villages launched its Transitional Living program in Spring of 2009, 32 young people have received its intensive support and the program continues to expand on pace. Youth Villages also recently surpassed a milestone in Massachusetts: its Transitional Living program was added to the approved list of services available through the Massachusetts' Department of Children and Families to young adults aging out of state custody. This is a major step in Youth Villages' ability to grow its Transitional Living services in the Boston area and to other regions of the Commonwealth. Matt Stone, Massachusetts state manager of Youth Villages, has been named one of three finalists for the Nonprofit Young Leadership Award given annually by the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. Awards will be announced at a ceremony at the State House during Nonprofit Awareness Day, June 14th. Congratulations, Matt!  Youth Villages' Transitional Living program is an innovative, intensive approach that helps hundreds of youth who turn 18 and age out of foster care system make a successful transition to adulthood.
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| How You Can Help! |
Join the Board of Directors of a GreenLight Fund organization. The GreenLight portfolio organizations are often in search of new board members to expand the leadership, perspective and reach of their organization. For more information on becoming a board member, please contact Melanie Damsker at mdamsker@greenlightfund.org.
Join a GreenLight Fund event committee! The GreenLight Gala (September 16, 2010) and An Emerald Evening (December 3, 2010) host committees are expanding. If you are interested in fundraising and in planning creative, fun events, please contact Melanie Damsker at mdamsker@greenlightfund.org.
On May 27, 2010, Friends-Boston supporters will gather at the EpiCenter in South Boston to celebrate the 5th Annual Friend Raiser, "Friends in Flip-Flops." Just in time for summer, the event will feature a lively beach theme and a live auction. It is not too late to sponsor the event or donate auction items. For more information and to purchase tickets please contact Rebekka Olsen at Rebekka@friendsboston.org. PHE hosted its Spring Fundraiser on May 18th at the Absolut Clubhouse at Fenway Park. Former New England Patriot, Troy Brown was the featured guest, along with the college volunteers who fan out across Boston each week to teach PHE's health education workshops to the city's ninth graders. To help PHE plan its next event or to get involved, please contact Boston executive director Molly Greene at molly@peerhealthexchange.org.
Youth Villages needs household items. More than a handful of young adults participating in the Transitional Living program have recently moved into
new apartment, often with nothing to bring with them to create a home. If
you have gently used items such as pots and pans, sheet sets, comforters,
towels, dishes, pieces of furniture (especially beds and bed frames) you can
make a significant impact on a young adult. If you are interested in helping
transform their apartment into a home please contact Kristin Wright, Youth
781-937-7931. |
| Contact the GreenLight Fund |
| The GreenLight Team
617-252-3235 or info@greenlightfund.org | |
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