Page 6 - December 2016 Newsletter_Neat

Celebration of Hope Gala to

It was a a spectacular evening to celebrate the award winners and
announce a new Communtiy service award named after one of
our own.

Over 280 attended the Building Hope Foundation and the Home
Builders and Remodelers Association of Fairfield annual gala ,
“A Celebration of Hope” on December 5th at the Water’s Edge at
Giovanni’s in Darien.
The HBRA presented awards and recognitions to association
members for their excellence in their respective industry. The
Building Hope Foundation presented their philanthropic awards to
both association members and non-members for their outstanding
commitment of donated time and resources.
“We at Building Hope are truly blessed that many of our industries top professionals are dedicated to our vision for
a better world. It seems only fitting that we honor their philanthropic donation of time, money and expertise to our
cause,” stated Andrew La Sala, Jr., President of the Building Hope Foundation. “We were also thrilled to be honoring
our invited Veterans and two other charities for the first time making this a night to remember and a true Celebration
of Hope.”
A new award, the Steven Berko Community Service Award, was established in part to the work of Steven Berko
and his dog Dascha with the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the aftermath of that tragedy. There was
moving tribute given by Karen King, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary on how his efforts helped these children
deal with the anger and confusion of the events using his therapy dog. The first Steven Berko Community Service
awardees were Campbell Kinsman, a teenager from Ridgefield who started Bear Hug, a non-profit association
that sends care packages and teddy bears to children of deployed military personnel, and Joe Kaliko, The Needs
Clearing House, Inc., a 501(c)3 that provides a “clearing house” service free of charge, to facilitate the identification
and matching of charitable needs with resources from other charitable organizations and individuals to meet those
needs.
Dinner, dancing to the band “What it Is” and Silent auction capped the night. The raffle winner of the 5 day Napa
Valley trip was Phil Platek of Weston - the winning ticket sold by Terence and Laurie Beaty.
See the following pages for pictures of the award winners and the night’s celebration.

6 | HBRA of Fairfield County | December2015