News & Events

Roca's 5th Annual Breakfast

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Seaport World Trade Center, Boston

Roca’s 5th Annual Breakfast Fundraiser raised over $230,000 to help our high-risk young people leave the streets and gangs, take responsibility for their actions, and have jobs. Roca hosted 400 people to hear Sister Helen Prejean, the author of the national best seller and inspiration for the Academy Award winning movie Dead Man Walking, who delivered the keynote address at our fifth annual fundraiser.

Random House generously donated copies of Sister Helen Prejean’s The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, for the Breakfast attendees. The book features two inmates she came to know as a spiritual adviser, including Dobie Williams:

“What happened to Dobie is what happens to people in killing chambers and in
warehouses where we have 2,000 young people in life-without-parole sentences, when there is not somebody like Roca to get in their lives and make a difference,” said Sister Helen.

To read more, please click here.

To watch Boston Latino’s coverage of the event, please click here.

 

Featuring Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ
author of The Death of Innocents and Dead Man Walking

2010 Vichey Phoung Peace Award Honorees:
•Superintendent Jay Ashe of Hampden County Sheriff's Department
•Zaida Gonzalez, Roca alumna

REDEMPTION: “YOU GOT SOME WORK TO DO.”

REDEMPTION is what Roca is all about. Roca learned it on the streets from the young people Roca works with—gang members, young parents, high school-drop outs, recent immigrants and others living in poverty—who courageously turned their lives around.

Sister Helen knows all about REDEMPTION. She began her prison ministry in 1981, dedicating her life to the poor of New Orleans. After becoming a spiritual advisor to a death row inmate, Sister Helen turned her experiences into a book, and continues to this day educating the public about the death penalty.

Everyone is aware of what REDEMPTION is, but no one can define it. Everyone wants to feel it, but where does one begin? As Sister Helen and Roca’s young people share their feelings on the topic, Roca’s 5th Annual Breakfast will reflect on an individual’s journey to redemption.

Donations always welcome; download the sponsorship form here. To find out more, please contact Barbara Gildea at (617) 889-5210 x241 or by email.

Roca would like to thank our generous sponsors:

COMPETENCY SPONSORS ($10,000+)

Stephen and Andrea Kaneb

Ellyn McColgan

GENEROSITY SPONSORS ($5,000+)

Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.

H.F. Baldwin

BNY Mellon

Citizens Bank of Massachusetts

Fidelity Investments

Mark and Jeanne Haggerty

Jeffrey J. Kaneb and Karla C. Kaneb

Kayem Foods

koi

Massachusetts General Hospital

Partners Health Care

State Street Corporation

TD Bank

Greg Torres and Elizabeth Pattullo

Work'n Gear

 

BELONGING SPONSORS ($2,500+)

Anonymous

Atlantic Records

Eyre Baldwin

Boston Private Bank and Trust

Bunker Hill Community College

Carhartt, Inc

The Clarks Companies, N.A.

Comcast Business Class

Community Resources for Justice

Demoulas

Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation

Fidelity IWS

Gibson & Behman, P.C.

Gilbane Co.

Global Condom Incorporated

Guggenheim Partners

Harbour Food Service

The Hanover Insurance Co

Hildreth Charitable Foundation

Howland Capital

Kettle Cuisine

Massport

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Mannion

The MENTOR Network

Nellie Mae Foundation

Nordblom Management Company

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.

Pepsi-Co

The Philadelphia Insurance Co

Plymouth Rock Insurance Co.

Red Sox Foundation

SEI Investments

Susquehanna

Stop & Shop

Strategic Offsites Group

Sovereign Bank New England

UPS

Deb Wayne