Join Up2Us Sports on Wednesday, June 3rd to celebrate five years of creating change through sports and to honor Little League Star, Mo'ne Davis and her coach Steve Bandura. During this event, we will celebrate the power of youth sports coaches and for the first time, honor a military veteran as our Coach of the Year.
June 3, 2015
Cocktail Reception 6:30PM - 9:00PM
IAC Building 555 W. 18th Street New York City
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A TICKET
Honorary Committee Sir Mick Jagger, Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol, Kristin Davis
Prince Amukamara, Caitriona Balfe, Nate Berkus, Sandra Bernhard, Jeremiah Brent, Jennifer Carpenter, David Colbert, MD*, Jill Demling, Ben Foster, Adam Glassman, Desiree Gruber, Kilian Hennessy, John Hickey, Michele Hicks, Kyle MacLachlan, Marisa Marchetto, Silvano Marchetto, Debi Mazar, Carolyn Murphy, Trond Myhr, Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Mimi Saltzman, Jeanann Williams, Robin Zendell
Host Committee Jody Bilney*, Peter Benet, Paul Caccamo, Kenneth DiPietro, Brandon Etheridge*, Angel Gallinal*, Matt Henson*, Sue Hunt*, Kevin Martinez*, Paul O'Neill, David Pace*, William Peters, Sue Portelli, Rob Ryan*, Scott Smith*, David Silbert, Conor Taniguchi, Alice Vilma, Nick Wood*
*Up2Us Sports Board Member
Sponsors
More about the Event: This past year, Up2Us Sports hired eight returning veterans in a pilot program we call Operation Coach. We trained these veterans and placed them in communities where children desperately need role models to inspire them to say no to violence and yes to school. I am pleased to report that our veterans did an outstanding job. Not only did they teach principles of teamwork, discipline and perseverance to nearly 1,000 disadvantaged youth, but they also learned how to translate their sense of mission abroad to full-time jobs here at home.
Operation Coach is just the latest development as Up2Us Sports celebrates its fifth anniversary. During the last five years we have hired more than 2,000 coaches to serve nearly 275,000 disadvantaged youth across the country. Our training, which teaches coaches how to instill life lessons through sports, is the best of its kind in the nation. And our new initiatives, like Operation Coach, are a win-win-win for young people, returning veterans and our communities.
We will honor Mo’ne Davis and her coach Steve Bandura for inspiring our nation and providing a powerful example of what a positive player-coach relationship can do, both on and off the field. Last summer, Mo’ne, a 13-year-old from South Philadelphia, became the first African American girl to appear in the Little League World Series and the first girl in the international event’s 67-year history to earn a win and pitch a shutout. Thanks largely to the mentoring and support of Coach Bandura, Mo’ne is well on her way to attending college as a student athlete. In the process, she captivated the entire nation and has become an inspiration to millions of young girls around the globe.
Every child in the nation deserves a trained, supportive coach like Coach Bandura, and Up2Us Sports will not stop until they all have one. On June 3, we will raise money to provide coaching jobs to hundreds of coach-mentors, including a new class of returning veterans. The enclosed reservation form details all opportunities for participation. If you cannot attend, I hope you will support our program through an ad, sponsorship, or simply a donation. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to seeing you on June 3.
Wonder what the event is like? Take a look at our previous galas in 2014 and 2013.
