Families-first.org: Thanks for Making the Benefit Reception a Success!

Our 4^th Annual Families First Benefit Reception was a great success! On March 31, 2009, approximately 250 guests gathered above the skylines of Boston at the Boston College Club and enjoyed a night of celebration, inspiration, and reflection. Through the generosity of many friends, we raised more than $120,000 to support our parenting and professional programs! On top of that, more than $107,000 of the money raised will go directly to support the work of Families First because our event expenses were kept so low!

Families First was thrilled to have Jack Agati as this year's keynote speaker. His energetic and entertaining talk about birth order and the many characteristics associated with each position in the family had everyone laughing and reflecting on their own birth order, as well as the characteristics of each of their own children. If you attended the event and didn't get a chance to grab Jack's handout on birth order, please feel free to email Susannah Cintron at scintron@families-first.org and we will send it to you.

Families First Parenting Educator Pam Bailey shared a few stories from workshops she had recently led and illustrated the additional challenges parents are facing today. Anita Handy, Executive Director of Tartt's Day Care Center III in Roxbury, and Amanda Schaefer, whose son attends Tartt's Day Care, spoke about the importance of parenting education and their incredibly positive first-hand experiences with our programs. Kim Comart, Families First Friends Council Member, made a powerful case for supporting the work of Families First.

Our deepest gratitude goes to our event chairs, Leslie and Ken Pucker, and our Board of Directors Chair, Melora Balson. A huge thanks to our event committee, staff, parenting educators, Friends Council members, and Board of Directors for supporting the event this year and rallying behind the new format! Please click here to see a full list of our event sponsors.