Postponing our 20th Anniversary Gala due to the Coronavirus Epidemic
While SSEF is among thousands of organizations forced to cancel large gatherings, this one promised to be special in two respects: 1) We have long looked forward to celebrating the arrival of the “Lost Boys and Girls” to Boston 20 years ago and the extraordinary journey that preceded and, indeed, followed the arrival in America. 2) This Gala event was going to be the largest fund and friend-raiser in the history of the South Sudanese Enrichment for Families.
Specifically, we sought and continue to seek to raise money for:
a) The Children’s Programs (preschool and summer camp),
b) Women’s Education (ESL, financial literacy, driver’s ed, vocational training), c) Social and Cultural Enrichment.
As if raising $300,000 wasn’t going to be challenging enough, we must now face far more pressing and dire needs. Members of our community have been hard hit by the fall out from the coronavirus. Many have been laid off from their jobs in the hospitality, ride sharing and other service industries. Some families have only one working parent, and some have no working parents. All are caring for their children who now are home from school. We have just created an emergency fund to provide basic necessities for com- munity members in need.
For more than a year we have been working on A Celebration of 20 Years in America. Former NBC News Anchor, Tom Brokaw, who has had decades-long interest in refugee crises and resettlement challenges, agreed to provide remarks through video. New York Times reporter, Ellen Barry, who covered the story of the arrival of “Lost Boys and Girls” here in Boston was scheduled to provide her perspective then and now. We planned to honor, Bill Mayer and Diane Currier, formerly of Goodwin Law, for their extraordinary dedication and generous commitment to SSEF and the South Sudanese community from the day the first of several hundred child refugees stepped off the plane at Logan. And finally, members of our community have been hard at work preparing to tell their “suitcase stories” for the first time. This a genre of storytelling that powerfully conveys a personal experience generally of extreme trauma and hardship and perseverance.
Because a crisis can also be an opportunity, we are going to produce a video to capture the program highlights but without drinks and chicken dinner. We are not abandoning the 20th- anniversary celebration and the significance of this milestone in the lives of all members of SSEF; we will carry it forward to our 2021 celebration.
Accordingly, we want to thank our sponsors to date including Liberty Mutual, Eastern Bank, Industrial Economics, Canby Financial, Smith, Sullivan and Brown, PC, Park Lodge Hotel Group, Sandy and Jim Storer, Stu Haber and Ellen Matathia, Barrett Sotheby’s Interna- tional Realty, Terry Perlmutter along with our Host committee, Gala chairs, ticket holders and vendors. We cannot overstate how important your commitment to SSEF has been and how much the entire community appreciates your generosity. While we will certainly refund all requests, those of you who have already sent money or have pledged funds, we hope you will allow us to use these donations for programs for the South Sudanese. The video we are preparing, will include prominent attribution and thanks to all our donors and benefactors who stay the course.
Compared to the challenges the “Lost Boys and Girlks” faced in the civil war, resulting in the death of family members, a death filled escape across Africa and years in Kenya and Ethiopian refugee camps, we don’t think the COVID 19 comes close. We will survive this.
With your continued support we can even thrive. Please consider maintaining your contribu- tion, if you made one; honoring your pledge, if you made one; and contributing NOW if you have not yet made one. If you plan to donate to our emergency fund understand that you are making a very impactful donation which will change the lives of our struggling families now.
With extreme gratitude and with hope for a speedy recovery from this pandemic.
Susan Winship, Executive Director
Mangok Bol, Board Co-Chair
Orelia Jonathan, Board Co-Chair
Donations can be mailed to:
SSEF
PO Box 492
Lincoln, MA 01773