Club Kids Perform – left to right: Nicole and Sarah Ekmekchyan. Courtesy photo.
AGOURA — The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley (BGCGCV) held a successful “Stand up for Kids Gala Dinner & Auction”, their major fundraiser of the year, on October 20 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village.
The annual event was centered around the impact of the 9 Clubs run by BGCGCV on over 4,000 youth and their families in the community, and the generous community sponsors that make the work possible.
Tom & Shelley Schlender (WDC Kitchen & Bath) were recognized as the 2018 Gala Honorees and the Cal Johnston Award was presented to Joe Seetoo (Morton Capital). In addition, the Cal Johnston, the Founding Chairman of the BGCGCV Board of Governors was honored with a Visionary Award for founding the organization in 2001.
The audience was also wowed by the personal story of Youth of the Year award recipient, 13 year old Annette Gonzalez, cheered a performance of ‘Sing Sing Sing’ by Club performing arts youth, and traded high fives with volunteer Club youth and alumni for every donation made that evening.
The Gala, designed around a 1920’s theme organized with the assistance of Geffen Events, drew a crowd of 430 people. Dr. Erika D. Beck, President of California State University Channel Islands, served as Master of Ceremonies and Jeff Tanenbaum acted as the auctioneer.
The overall amount of money raised was $558,362.00. Some 96 individuals “stood up for kids”, raising $97,500 during a live auction and $39,352 during a silent auction. A total of $225,500 was raised for the BGCGCV scholarship fund, which makes sure that no family is turned away due to lack of ability to pay. An additional $11,110 was raised in general support of the organization’s quality before and after school programs, sport leagues and summer camps.
“We are so thankful to our community for the overwhelming support they displayed during this event and appreciate each and every contribution – this will make a huge difference for our kids,” stated Dr. Crystal N?one, CEO for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley.
For more information, call the Boys & Girls Clubs at 818-706-0905 or visit the website at www.bgcconejo.org.
About the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley are open before and after school, during lunch, on weekends, throughout the summer for the camp program and all-day during school vacations with tours of the Clubs available upon request. For more information about supervised youth programs, to donate, volunteer, or register online, please log onto www.bgcconejo.org or call 818-706-0905.