All of us at 826 Valencia and ScholarMatch are bowled over by the incredible enthusiasm and generosity in the room for our benefit event, A Night with Tom Hanks, which raised more than $600,000 to support our writing and college access work. We were honored to host Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who shared with all of us his love of writing, passion for college access, and a secret about Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. He even auctioned off a signed and personalized floor piano a-la the movie Big—hopefully someone is tapping out Heart and Soul as we write this!
We’re proud to be serving such incredible youth, and we hope you are too. Click here for a video about our two organizations and the students we serve. For now, we leave you with this quote from our keynote speaker Bianca Catalan, alumna of both programs and current 826 staff member, about the importance of our work:
“Opportunities for low-income students to share their stories or receive a higher education can change not only the way they think about themselves, but the way we all think about one another…They cross socio-economic boundaries, showing that when you encourage and truly believe a student can pursue their dreams, you, in turn, may find the strength to pursue your own.”
Thank you to all who attended for encouraging, believing in, and supporting our students in all the ways you do. We hope you will continue to support us at 826 Valencia and ScholarMatch all year long.
And thank you to our incredible sponsors! Big t.hanks to Attune Wines, BBDO San Francisco, the Curran, Dolby Laboratories, Fort Point Beer Company, Microsoft, NextDraft, RSM, Silicon Valley Bank, and the What.