BuildOn's Bay Area Dinner 2011

Last Thursday night at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, BuildOn held its annual Bay Area Dinner to celebrate another year of west coast accomplishment and to recognize those who made it happen. There were over 500 attendees, including former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, Sonya Molodetskaya, San Francisco mayoral candidate Joanna Rees with her husband John Hamm, and local radio celebrity Hooman Khalili.

BuildOn's Western VP Catarina Schwab deserves a big round of applause for her efforts which resulted in the huge increase in attendance and funds raised from the prior year. Opportunity For All donated three schools for the evening with the condition that they be matched by other donors at the dinner. Tension filled the air as the auctioneer put them out to bid, but three other donors stepped up and met the match. Excitement filled the room – six schools set a new standard for this event. It was a wonderful evening.
Dear Al, Anne, Leo & Nathalie,

I am still on cloud nine after last night's dinner. Your challenge grant of 3 schools was incredibly generous and created an energy in the room that I can still feel. All of the buildOn team really enjoyed spending more time with you at the dinner and after party. We are honored to have you as our partners and look forward to following up on some of the ideas discussed last night. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thank you again!!

Best,
Catarina Schwab, VP, California

A fun part of the evening was the chance to meet some of the many Bay Area high school kids who participate in BuildOn's US based school service programs. Many of these students had gone on a BuildOn trek and helped build a school in another country. A few had helped build some of our schools!

Catarina Schwab, VP of Development

Catarina Schwab with OFA's Anne Studabaker, Al O'Connor and Leo & Nathalie Joseph

BuildOn's CEO, Jim Ziolkowski

What would a fundraiser be without a cocktail party and a silent auction?

Sold! - A donor offers to match one of Opportunity For All's schools

It would be a shame to go all the way to San Francisco without taking the opportunity to do more than one thing. The entire Opportunity for All team had dinner the night prior to the main event with BuildOn's senior management. It was a fun evening and a great chance to get to know each other on a personal level.

Opportunity For All's entire team With BuildOn CEO Jim Z and COO Marc Friedman

Marc explains to the group how he intends to eat the massive chocolate sundae he ordered for dessert.