A Community’s Struggle Inspires Donor’s Gift to Comprehensive Campaign
“We heard about the challenges faced by the Blue Hill Club because of the violence in the neighborhood,” Elena Matlack said. “So when BGCB asked Tom and me for a Campaign gift, we decided initially to pay for a security guard, because we thought, ‘We have to help keep these kids alive.’ But the more we learned, the more we realized there was a need to help young people in a positive way.” The Matlacks’ Campaign gift supports the Club’s Teen Advocacy and Community Outreach Director, a staff position that is essential in reaching especially at-risk teens. It has been a rewarding and moving experience for Elena since she first got involved with BGCB as a way to honor and remember her late first husband.
When Scott Farrar passed away from cancer just a year and a half into their marriage, Elena needed to focus on something positive and find an appropriate way to keep her husband’s memory alive.
“Scott loved kids, sports and Boston,” Elena said, “and I had heard about BGCB’s excellent reputation for helping kids.” With guidance from a staff member, Elena set up the Scott Farrar Memorial Fund in 1999 to provide summer camp scholarships to youth in need.
Scott’s friends and colleagues donated so generously to the Fund that the staff member who helped establish the Fund called Elena to find out more about what made him so special, and in the process, got to know Elena. It was not long before she was invited to join our Board of Overseers. The natural next step was involvement in event committees. Elena had found what she was looking for. And then she found Tom Matlack, who shares her concern for youth in the city.
As she prepared to marry Tom, she worried that the Fund could fall short of being fully endowed. As a wedding gift to Elena, Tom brought the Fund up to its endowment goal.
“People who are involved with BGCB are so nice, and as Tom has gotten to know them, heard more about the mission, and met the members, he has developed as strong a passion for the organization as I have,” Elena said.
As a Co-Chair of BGCB’s House Party committee, Elena has been integral to that event’s successful fundraising efforts. And as a newly elected Board member, Elena hopes to do even more to help kids directly in a positive way. A community’s struggle may have inspired Elena and Tom, but ultimately, it is they who are inspiring our staff and the young people whom we serve.
To read more about BGCB’s Comprehensive Campaign, which has raised $96 million towards its $100 million goal that must be reached by June 2008, click here.