FRIENDS OF INNER-CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND RAISE $1
MILLION
TO BENEFIT DISADVANTAGED YOUTH AT 38th ANNUAL
GALA
New York [May 21, 2014] – Supporters
of Inner-City Scholarship Fund raised
$1 million at the 38th Annual
Friends Committee Gala on
Tuesday, May 13th. Over 400 guests attended the
event at Cipriani 42nd Street
in Manhattan to benefit Inner-City in its dedication to
providing tuition assistance for low-income students
attending inner-city Catholic schools within the Archdiocese
of New York.
His Eminence, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop
of New York; and Gala
Chair, co-anchor
of Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Martha
MacCallum attended
the event where Fox
News Channel analyst Peter
Johnson, Jr. served
as the Master of Ceremonies.
“A quality education is the most powerful tool a child can
have,” said Susan George, Executive
Director of Inner-City. “Seeing this room so full of people
committed to providing educational opportunities to our
students, is something I – and the thousands of students
Inner-City supports – are very thankful for.”
Former scholarship recipient Richard Recchia, who graduated
from high school in 2004 and is now an Emmy Award winning
producer at CBS Sports, gave a moving speech about how a
Catholic education and the support he received from
Inner-City helped shape his future. “I spent my childhood
living in a public housing
project complex in Manhattan, with my mother and three
siblings, in a cramped one-bedroom apartment – finances were
tight,” said Recchia. “Without Inner-City Scholarship Fund
and the support of my sponsor, I would not be standing here
tonight and more importantly, I don’t know if I would have
developed the desire to dream and aspire for what I have
been blessed with today.”
In addition to dinner and dancing, guests
enjoyed a performance by Maria Jose Nolasco, an 8th grade
student at Immaculate Conception Elementary School in the
Bronx, who sang Vivir
mi Vida by
Marc Anthony and Colors
of the Wind by
Stephen Schwartz.
About Inner-City Scholarship Fund
Inner-City Scholarship Fund was founded in 1971 by the late
Terence Cardinal Cooke and a group of prominent executives
of many religious beliefs. Inner-City provides tuition
assistance to over 7,500 students (92% minority and 33%
non-Catholic) in 79 inner-city Catholic schools in
Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. An astonishing 98%
percent of seniors attending inner-city Catholic high
schools graduate, and 96% pursue college at some of the
finest universities in the nation.
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