The Fuller Center held its Annual Wee Dream Ball, the organization’s signature fundraiser, on Friday, December 2 at Boca West Country Club. Guest speaker, Diana Capobianco, who attended Fuller Center as a child, spoke about what a difference it made in her life.
“My parents, immigrants from Mexico, found The Fuller Center in 1992 through word of mouth and were given the opportunity to enroll both my sister and me full-time. This was the hardest thing for my mom to do, as she always dreamed of being home with us when we were little; however, she and my dad both needed to work,” said Mrs. Capobianco. “The Fuller Center not only gave my mom and dad the freedom, encouragement, and financial relief to both work and save money, but also gave them the security of knowing that their children would be fed, educated, and cared for, while being provided with experiences we would normally never been able to have.”
Mrs. Capobianco went on to say, “The Fuller Center started a ripple of positive effects throughout my childhood that eventually led to me graduating from college with an undergraduate engineering degree. I got my MBA and landed a great career with American Express, and bought my very first home with my husband Sean in Boca Chase, just behind the Fuller West Campus. We now have two young children of our own who attend the Fuller Center. I always felt safe at this school and wanted my children to have the same wonderful experience that I had, now as a paying parent.”
Event co-chairs Rosa Agentis Feeney and Karen Foreman, along with Special Honoree Gail Wasserman, spoke about how crucial the Fuller Center’s work is, and how each person in the room was helping to make a positive impact on the children and families the Fuller Center serves, as well as positively impacting our community.
The Wee Dream Ball was an intimate and inspirational evening with beautiful black and white décor with pops of red roses. The live entertainment featured NY NY Dueling Pianos, LED winged ladies, dancing, a luxurious live auction and Gift from the Heart presentation, and delicious cuisine. The evening ended with a lounge-style dessert hour in the library with classics sung by duo Steve and Rhonda Kaplan.
The sponsors were Karen & Jay Foreman, Christine E. Lynn & E. M. Lynn Foundation, Jo Ann & Philip Procacci, Publix Super Markets Charities, Sam and Simone Spiegel Family Foundation, and Schmidt Family Foundation; Empower Sponsors Anidjar & Levine Law Firm, Brotman, Nusbaum, Ibrahim & Adelman, CP Group & BRiC – Boca Raton Innovation Campus, Silvana & Barry Halperin, Bob & Lynne Hart, Leslie & David Kantor, Hiromi & Robert Printz, Sandra & Marvin Rubin, Susie & Mark Tabor, and Eda & Cliff Viner; Dessert Sponsor Boca West Country Club; Luxury Retail Sponsor Saks Fifth Avenue Boca Raton; Magazine Sponsor Margaret Mary Shuff & Boca Raton Magazine; Program Book Sponsor Office Depot; Signage Sponsor FastSigns Boca Raton; Signature Cocktail Sponsor Tito’s Handmade Vodka; Table Décor Sponsor Gucci Boca Raton.
The support and belief in the Fuller Center mission allows the organization to continue embracing, educating, and empowering the hardworking, under-resourced families and children of our community – the essential workers ultimately taking care of us, and the workforce behind the workforce.
Fuller Center and supporters remain steadfast in their commitment to turn the tide of generational, economic inequity and make a positive impact in as many lives as they are able, because they know TOMORROW BEGINS TODAY!
For more information please contact Assistant Director of Philanthropy Alana Lagerström at alagerstrom@fullercenterfl.org or call (561) 391-7274, ext. 134.
About the Fuller Center
For more than 50 years, the Fuller Center’s mission has been to embrace, educate, and empower hardworking, under-resourced families and children to reach their full potential. We build a positive future through education for the more than 900 children (infants through teens) that we serve annually, as well as 600 family members. The Fuller Center reaches families in 20 zip codes throughout Palm Beach County, as well as North Broward County.
Almost all Fuller Center working parents – 92% – serve as essential or frontline workers, working in hospitals, retail outlets, restaurants, and hotels. They are our bus drivers, store clerks and cashiers, farmworkers, delivery drivers, security guards, bank tellers, office workers, healthcare workers, home health aides, hospital orderlies and cafeteria workers, and childcare and eldercare workers.
Our programs help empower children to start school prepared, succeed academically, and break the generational cycle of poverty through quality early childhood education, after-school and summer camp programs, our new private elementary school and teen leadership programs, and comprehensive, family-centered support services. They also empower parents who are essential to keeping our local economy open and who provide the vital services we all count on.
The Fuller Center also offers mentoring programs and adult on-the-job training, coaching, and employment support, and no-cost transportation from 12 area schools to our campus-based after-school programs. We serve more than 1,800 nutritious meals and snacks daily.
In addition, Fuller Center provides opportunities for local colleges and universities to place undergraduate and graduate students in internships and child development practicums.
