Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County will hold its annual Dream BIG Gala fundraiser tonight at Madison Marriott West. It’s a big night for Big Brothers Big Sisters and it’s also a huge night for Madison-area “Bigs” and “Littles” and the life-changing power of mentoring.
“We’re really, really excited about this event,” Big Brothers Big Sisters CEO Sandy Morales tells Madison365. “It’s always a really cool event. It’s a really diverse crowd. For our matches – for our Bigs and Littles – this is like another outing. We’re getting together and we’re going to a Gala. It’s a wonderful experience for our Littles to dress up and go to an event and have conversations with other adults. This is a great experience for them as well.”
The Gala is Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Dane County’s biggest fundraiser of the year and it will enable the agency to raise funds to help serve 700 children in our community this year. While last year’s Gala featured keynote speaker Jackie Joyner Kersee, this year BBBS has changed up the format.
“Strategically, we decided that the speaker was really good at growing the event and bringing people in and we realized that people had such a great experience with us at the event itself because it was fun and engaging,” Morales says.
“We will have about 650 attendees this year again and our committee has worked really hard on our sponsorships and getting people there so our focus is really going to be more about sharing more stories and talking about our mission and what we do,” she adds.
All of the support from the Gala helps BBBS work towards its primary vision – that all children achieve success in life. The funds will hopefully, Morales says, help BBBS recruit more bigs, enroll more Littles and make more matches. The waitlist is currently at about 300 children who are waiting to be matched to a Big Brother or Big Sister.
“At the event, we will be giving out a Community Partner of the Year Award to the Madison Police Department for their Bigs in Blue Program. Chief [Mike] Koval will actually be there with some of our Bigs in Blue bigs police officer,” Morales says. “When we introduced the program a couple years ago, the Madison Police Department was the first department in the community that said, ‘yes, we want to be a part of this.’ So we really commend them for their commitment without any hesitation.”
Most of the police officers in the program are from the Madison Police Department although there are a few from the UW-Madison, Sun Prairie and Edgerton police departments.
“All-in-all, I think we have close to 20 police officers that are involved as Bigs. So that’s awesome,” Morales says. “We’ll be sharing a story about one of our stories about a Big/Little match from Bigs in Blue.”
At the Gala tonight, American Family Insurance will be receiving the Corporate Partner Award. “American Family is a great supporter of many non-profits, but they’ve also have committed volunteers to us in terms of board members as Bigs, too. We like to highlight organizations that not only support us financially but also with their talent,” Morales says. “American Family has been really great about that.”
Every year, BBBS highlights their “Big of the Year” at this event.
“It’s a process that we go through at the end of the year to find a Big that has really propelled the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters,” Morales says. “The match has really demonstrated significant impact for the Little, so we’re seeing those changes in the child and the improvement. This year, our ‘Big of the Year’ is Mary Beth Collins. She and her little brother, Jaron, have been matched for six years.”
and “Little” JaRon Dorenzo
BBBS of Dane County has been defending the potential of children by providing them with strong, enduring and professionally supported mentor relationships that change their lives for the better since 1996. Morales says that they are getting ready for a big brand transformation.
“So we’re changing our logo, our color, everything. It’s going to be cool,” she says. “Our message is changing and our logo is changing … it’s all rolling out Oct. 1. We’re getting ready for that. It’s something we are really excited about.”
In the meantime, the annual Dream BIG Gala tonight will be a huge fundraising event for BBBS. “We have an extensive silent auction and a live auction with nine items,” Morqles says.
This year’s Gala will feature many exclusive items that will be auctioned away including a Mexico Getaway, a Grammy Awards Experience and a Medinah Country Club Golf Outing. New this year, there will be a Champagne-Diamond Raffle that includes a glass of champagne and the chance to be entered to win a .52 karat loose diamond, thanks to Diny’s Jewelers.
“We will also have a Packers experience prize,” Morales says. “[Green Bay Packer safety] Ha Ha Clinton Dix is donating four tickets to family night on Saturday, Aug. 4, where you’ll get to have field passes and get to sit with the team during the fireworks. He even produced a little video for us to show at the gala.”
Unfortunately, BBBS had to remove one auction item – a personal dinner experience with Chef Rod Ladson – after he sadly passed away suddenly this past weekend. “We are all so very sad. He has come to our events before and he had been a wonderful supporter of BBBS,” Morales says. “A couple of years ago, he brought a key lime pie for whoever won the chef experience. That was so cool.
“One of the great things that he had done for us was donate one of these dinners,” she adds. “Last year, he actually invited a group of matches – Bigs and Littles – to his restaurant and he talked to them about his experiences as a chef. We had a big dinner and it was so delicious. He has been so generous to the organization.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County’s Dream BIG Gala will be held Thursday, July 19, 5:30-9 p.m., at the Marriott Madison West, 1313 John Q Hammons Dr., in Middleton.
