Exchange Club of Sugar Land will be the Confetti Presenting Sponsor for Child Advocates of Fort Bend’s 30th Birthday Gala Celebration on Saturday, May 8, 2021. The Gala will celebrate the agency’s 30 years serving child victims of abuse and their families. This fun, adult event will take place at the Sugar Land Marriott Town Square and will feature a live and silent auction, raffle, wine and gift card pulls. Michele Fisher will emcee for the 9th year. Johnny Bravo is joining her as auctioneer for a fourth time. Attire for the evening is elegant and festive. Black tie is optional.
Child Advocates of Fort Bend (CAFB) opened its doors in 1991 with a volunteer Executive Director, trained its first class of CASA Volunteers and assigned its first CASA Volunteer to a child in foster care. In the last 30 years, they have expanded those services exponentially. “We now have two programs – Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and a Children’s Advocacy Center with comprehensive services to enable child victims of abuse and their families to get the support that they need to heal. The number of children and families in need of our services has increased 60% over the last eight years,” stated CAFB CEO Ruthanne Mefford. “We launched a Capital Campaign in 2019 to renovate and expand our building to enable us to meet the growing need and opened our Davis George Campus just before the pandemic hit. While the number of children we saw dropped initially during the shutdown, we saw a dramatic rise in cases throughout the year. In fact, we served 3,544 children and families last year – an increase of 24% over 2019.” To date, Child Advocates of Fort Bend has served nearly 19,000 children. “The Gala is critical to funding our programs and services for the children and your support has never been more critical than it is today,” said Mefford.
Sponsorship and underwriting opportunities are available ranging from $2,000 to $15,000. Individual seats are available for $150. To attend the Gala, become a sponsor, donate an auction item or for more information, go to https://www.cafb.org/events/gala/sponsorship-opportunities/ or contact Tarina Sheridan at 281-344-5109 or tsheridan@cafb.org.
Shown top row (L to R) are: Exchange Club Members Leslie Woods, Carlos Perez, Paul Barnett and Brad Porter. Second row (L to R) are Thad Olive, Vita Goodell, Rick Bell and Jeff Dodson. Third row (L to R) are: John Heinemann, Lori Bisewski, Jennifer Boley, Venon Hunt. Bottom row (L to R) are: Chanel Bermudez and Sue Sanchez. The agency’s annual gala and auction raises much needed funds to support its programs for abused and neglected children. This is your chance to join Exchange Club of Sugar Land and Child Advocates of Fort Bend in making a difference for children in Fort Bend County.
About Child Advocates of Fort Bend:
Child Advocates of Fort Bend is a non-profit agency dedicated to ending child abuse by providing a voice, healing the hurt, and breaking the cycle of child abuse in Fort Bend County. Through its Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASATM), Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and more than 200 trained community volunteer advocates, Child Advocates improves the lives of more than 400 children each month and has served nearly 19,000 children since opening its doors in 1991.
Volunteers are needed to help in the office and Children’s Advocacy Center and help with special events. For more information on how you can get involved with Child Advocates of Fort Bend, contact Volunteer Services at 281-344-5123 or jbrown@cafb.org or log onto www.cafb.org.