Boston Chapter’s First Dinner Raises Money to Send Students to Build a School in Malawi
buildOn’s first Boston Dinner was a complete success. The dinner raised a gross revenue of just over $80,000 – enough to build a school and send 12 students and two teachers from the Boston Public School district to Malawi to build it. buildOn’s Boston Chapter hosted the event at the Boston Harbor Hotel on June 14. There were 140 guests in attendance, including Bethany Wood, Coordinator of Global Education for Boston Public Schools and Tito H. Jackson, Boston City Councilor of District 7.
The event began with a presentation from buildOn Founder and CEO Jim Ziolkowski. Dr. Carol Johnson, Superintendent of Boston Public Schools since 2007, spoke as our honoree; and buildOn alumna Haben Girma spoke about how building a school in Mali with buildOn changed her life. Girma just finished her second year at Harvard Law School.
This is the chapter’s second fundraising event, following its Boston Marathon fundraiser, which raised $76,000. We’d like to thank buildOn’s Connecticut Board Members Don Epperson, Co-Founder and Chairman of Simpli.fi; and Allan Hackney, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of John Hancock, for hosting the event on behalf of the Boston chapter; and our our Platinum Sponsors, Cognizant Technology Solutions, GE and John Hancock.