Boston Chapter - AGA December 2, 2010 Maggiano s Little Italy Restaurant Park Plaza Boston, MA Boston Chapter Annual Holiday Party Registration: 11:30 Session: 12:00-1:30 Cost: Members $ 20 Non-Members $ 25 Planned Menu: (served family style) Mushroom Ravioli Mozzarella Marinara Caesar Salad Maggiano s Salad Lasagna Chicken & Spinach Manicotti Spaghetti & Meatballs Chicken Marsalla Tiramisu Apple Crostada To register please contact Julia Burns, CGFM at Julia.Burns@state.ma.us or via phone at 617-973-2452 Or online at www.agaboston.org The Boston Chapter of the AGA will host it s annual Holiday Party / Charity Fundraiser on December 2, 2010. Maggiano s Little Italy Restaurant in Boston is always a great host with excellent food. This event is our major annual charitable fundraiser. This year, we are sponsoring a raffle at our Annual Holiday Charity Luncheon. Items will include gift certificates, admission tickets to sporting events, museums, wine and other prizes. We will donate the proceeds from our auction to Christmas in the City, a local organization that provides a fun-filled party for children (and their parents) from local homeless shelters. We are asking attendees to please consider bringing a new, unwrapped toy and/or personal hygiene items to the luncheon. These items will help Christmas in the City ensure that each of their guests receives a holiday gift.
The idea of Christmas in the City was formulated by John "Jake" and Patricia Sparky" Kennedy. They wanted to expose their children to those people less fortunate than them. The first CITC event in 1989 brought 165 children, with their parents in tow, from various shelters throughout the city to City Hall. Each child was given an individually purchased gift, taken from their99 wish list, from Santa. Entertainment and a holiday meal were also provided. The growth of the program has been spectacular. The current edition of the Christmas party is held at the Bayside Expo center and will host over 1500 children. There will be games, rides and performers along with a seven-course meal and of course, Santa. All of this is put on with the help of 600+ unpaid volunteers, including junior high and high school age kids from area schools. They have year round programs which include distributing birthday presents for the children, and seminars for parents. Parent seminars have provided expert lectures given in the shelters for such topics as child safety, nutrition and financial planning. They have also helped start a day care center at the Lifehouse Shelter that is managed by the residents. In 1995 the Adopt-a-Family program was started. The impetus was to create family intervention with lasting and concrete results. The program enlists volunteers to "follow" a family when they leave a shelter. The volunteers develop a relationship with the families and help them with financial management and other day to day questions they need help with. Intervention has included day to day support, jobs, financial and legal advice, transportation, daycare, clothes, food, furniture. Band aid solutions are discouraged because they do not solve the problem at hand. They want to stop the revolving door of homelessness that these families are stuck in. Over the years wonderful human interest stories have surfaced. One such example is the previously homeless children who have come back to CITC as volunteers. Another account is the story of one of the Adopt-a-Family volunteers who spent numerous hours, and endured many hardships, helping a homeless family get on their feet. When the volunteer was unexpectedly hospitalized the first people to visit this person was the family they had helped.