WESTBROOK – As Westbrook’s My Place Teen Center gears up for its annual “Fund-A-Kid” celebration and fundraiser, a goal of $50,000 has been set.
Each year, the nonprofit teen center, which has been serving a growing number of Westbrook youth with programs and daily meals, holds the fundraiser as a way to raise awareness of what the organization offers, as well as to give its teens a way to tell their stories.
In a press release issued last week, the teen center executive director, Donna Dwyer, said the event’s “high point” is the live auction, which, in addition to giving attendees the chance to bid on a few high-ticket items, also “offers the opportunity to fund the specific child whose story has the greatest resonance with them.”
A donation of $80 will “fund a kid” for one month. According to the release, the teen center spends roughly $960 per year per child, and served some 500 kids in 2013.
Dwyer said the agency hopes to raise $50,000 through a combination of local corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, auction proceeds and individual donations.
The organization is hoping that a recent award, known as “The 6 Who Care,” presented by WCSH-TV, will boost interest in the center and its fundraiser event.
WCSH partners with the United Way of Greater Portland to present the award to a Maine nonprofit agency each year.
Dwyer said the award will officially be presented at a ceremony hosted by WCSH-TV anchors Pat Callaghan and Cindy Williams at the Portland Museum of Art on Monday, Oct. 20.
The press release said the winning agency is selected based on “its level of service to the community, the number of people it serves, and the degree to which it goes above and beyond its stated mission to address a critical need in that community.”
“The award could hardly have come at a better time for the teen center as it prepares for its biggest fundraiser of the year,” Dwyer said in the release.
According to Dwyer, the center serves an “ever-increasing number of kids at-risk in the greater Portland and York County area.”
A CLOSER LOOK
My Place Teen Center’s Fund-A-Kid Celebration and Awards is Thursday, Sept. 25, from 5-7:30 p.m., at the center, 755 Main St., Westbrook. Food will be provided by the Frog & Turtle, musical entertainment by Uke ’n’ Smile, and beer and wine at a cash bar. Tickets are $50. Tickets are available online at www.myplaceteencenter.org.
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