On behalf of the Milford Youth Commission and staff, we would like to thank everyone who attended, donated and supported to make the 11th Annual Fundraiser successful, raising funds for Youth Center programs! The event was held on Friday, September 17th at CraftRoots Brewing from 6-9 PM and included great beer and food, live music, raffles and community awards! The Youth Commission selects businesses, individuals and/or organizations each year for our Community Appreciation Award! The awardees are recognized for their dedication and support of the Youth Center! The 2021 Community Appreciation Awards were presented to New Human and CraftRoots Brewing!New Human – Online Fitness Platform is a fitness business, created in 2019 by Milford Alum Michael Soares, whose mission is to help people live healthier & happier lives, all while helping others as well! Mike, along with Aaron Anniballi and Dimitry Torres, all part of the New Human team, in particular are all past Youth Center members in their middle school years and decided to put together a fundraiser to give back to a place that they grew up going to this past February, raising over $7,000! We have been able to continue to collaborate since this successful event, most recently a 3 vs 3 back to school event that included raising funds for school supplies and giving out free back to school haircuts. We were beyond excited to honor New Human with this award for the continued support of the Center and the community to help give back and support healthy living! We would like to thank former Board Member and Milford High School Basketball Coach Steve Manguso for not only his donation but also for presenting the award to Mike and Aaron!
Our second Community Appreciation Award was given as a surprise on the night of the event to an amazing community partner of ours, CraftRoots Brewing! Not only do they allow us to host our fundraiser at this awesome location annually, but they also reached out to help the Center back in May 2020 to find a way to support the Center during such a difficult time. With no rental programs for months and the postponed 10th Annual St. Pat’s Fundraiser, our largest event of the year, Maureen, Robin and Irene came up with this awesome idea to help support our program! They created a beer named “We Need You(th)”, which was brewed to raise funds for the MYC! For every purchase of a 32 oz. squealer, $1 was donated to the Center! Despite going through their own difficulties with precautions due to COVID, they still found a way to support the Center!
We would also like to recognize some special guests who attended the event and/or gave out citations to the awardees including Congressman Jake Auchincloss, Joseph D. Early Jr., Worcester County District Attorney, State Representative Brian W. Murray, the Chair from the Milford Republican Town Committee, Ann Ragosta, who presented on behalf of Senator Fattman and Select Board Members Michael K. Walsh, Thomas J. O’Loughlin and Paul Mazzuchelli. Thank you to all our Board Members who attended and/or helped to make the event a success!
We would also like to thank Heather Deary Acoustic, for allowing us to use her microphone and speaker for the awards and raffles, along with her beautiful performance throughout the night! Thank you to the Caribbean Press Food Truck that provided delicious food for our guests! Thank you to Milford TV for coming to film and interview awardees and staff as well! Finally, thank you to the entire CraftRoots staff for your amazing hospitality! Thank you to our MYC staff for all the help with the event too!
We would like to thank every individual, organization and/or businesses that contributed to this fundraiser with a monetary donation and/or raffle prize: Amazon, Joan and Jack Ward, Chris Ward, Areia Bryan, Milford Baseball, Milford Softball, Michelle Stokes, Sousthside Bar and Grill, Craftroots Brewing, Milford Lacrosse, Signs by Jerry, Greater Milford Social Club, Boston Beer Co., Chuck Calagioni, The Gym Milford, Ken Rosa, Carrie McGrath, Brendan Rickert, Amy Tamagni, Steve Manguso, Maureen Quinn, Joni Costa and Al Correia! We would also like to thank the United Way of Tri-County and the Town Clerks office as well for helping us with our raffle permit! Finally, thank you to the following Board Members for all their help throughout the event, especially Paige Brown and Michelle Stokes for running the raffles, Darlene Dulude for preparing and packing all the raffles, Jay Vaz for securing a van from Imperial to help us transport all the raffles and tables and Sandy Caproni for helping us frame all the raffle info cards!We hope you enjoy the photos from the event here! If you would like to make a donation, please click here: https://milfordyouthcenter.org/donate/