It was a night to remember! There were nearly 250 of Mary's Center's friends and corporate sponsors. There were two distinguished members of Congress: Xavier Becerra and Eleanor Holmes Norton. And two members of the Obama administration. And as master of ceremonies: National Public Radio's Ray Suarez.All kinds of good food, and wonderful live music.
These are just a few highlights of the spectacular 2009 Noche Tropical, Mary's Center's annual fundraising gala, held Thursday night, October 8th, at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC.
Keynote speaker at the event was Neera Tanden, senior advisor to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Ms. Tanden, who worked as Director of Domestic Policy for the Biden Presidential Campaign before joining the Obama administration, congratulated Mary's Center on 21 years of outstanding service to the medically-underserved populations of Washington, DC. She also spoke about the urgent need for health care reform in the U.S.
Congressman Becerra, left, with Mary's Center President and CEO Maria Gomez and National Public Radio's Ray Suarez, MC for the galaAlso recognized at the gala was Ana Recio Harvey, the former President and CEO of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Harvey recently was named head of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership. In that capacity, Ms. Harvey will work to promote women-owned businesses. In helping to empower women, Ms. Harvey advances a major priority of Mary's Center President and CEO Maria Gomez.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a long-time friend of Mary's Center, congratulated Mary's Center "for helping our city to grow and thrive economically while... simultaneously supporting our most vulnerable families and children." She echoed many when she noted that "in giving back, you are receiving. I applaud Mary’s Center and all of you here today for your efforts to improve the well-being of our families in DC and for helping every child in the District to have a chance to thrive and succeed."
Guests at the gala had a chance to view a wonderfully-inspiring video that displayed the many reasons that Mary's Center has to celebrate the past year, most notably, a visit from First Lady Michelle Obama in February 2009. Mrs. Obama used her visit to Mary's Center to focus on the need for all of us to "give back" to our communities.
Also addressing the crowd at Noche was teenager Akrem Muzemil, who talked to the crowd about how Mary's Center helped to steer his life in the right direction when he first arrived in the U.S. from Ethiopia five years ago.
Author Allison Silberberg, whose book, Visionanaries in our Midst features a profile of Mary's Center, was at Noche Tropical, too, signing books. On the dance floor was music man Verny Varela and his band, and there were lots of people dancing, including Maria!
Mary's Center President and CEO Maria Gomez hits the dance floor at Noche Tropical!An auction and dessert buffet ended the evening. The gala celebration left Mary's Center with one more year of rich memories!
