Bristol Warren Education Foundation hosts first fundraiser since 2019

Posted 5/17/22

The fundraiser shifted away from the spelling bee towards an “adult recess” theme, held at Hope & Main's parking lot in Warren.

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Bristol Warren Education Foundation hosts first fundraiser since 2019

Posted

The Bristol Warren Education Foundation (BWEF) threw its first big fundraiser since 2019 — The Bee Presents: Recess! — this past Saturday at Hope and Main in Warren.

The BWEF’s signature fundraising event for 13 years had been an adult spelling bee, or “The Bee”, in shorthand.

“We had to cancel our event in March 2020, literally the day before, due to the Covid outbreak,” said BWEF President Darcy Dacosta. “It was an expensive decision as we lost all of our sunk costs, but it was the right thing to do.”

This year, the BWEF Board of Directors was determined to be back live and in person, Dacosta said.

“For our return, we pivoted to an outdoor event in the schoolyard at Hope & Main, ditched the spelling, and delivered something we could all use more of right now — fun!”

The fundraiser shifted away from the spelling bee towards an “adult recess” theme, with food, drinks, music and games including Hula, Giant Jenga, Connect Four, Checkers and Scrabble, as well as a cornhole tourney, shell painting (sponsored by the Bristol and Warren Health Equity Zones), and other fun activities.

“We are still tallying the final result but I estimate we reached our fundraising goal, the proceeds of which will fund our mission,” Dacosta said. “Our event chairs, Board Members Jane Govednik and Melanie Michaud did a fantastic job pulling this off from the ground up, literally, and made a parking lot into a festive party and playground. Hope & Main was super generous and donated the space and the resources on site to pull it off. I believe we are the first organization they allowed to do that.”

During the event, BWEF also recognized the foundation’s 2022 star teachers, as voted by the rising class at each district school and the 2022 graduates. They are:

Colt Andrews — Stephanie Pedro
Guiteras — Vaness Hall
Hugh Cole — Marilyn Jones
Rockwell — Joe Gallo
Kickemuit Middle School — Yanping Shen
Mt. Hope High School — Katie Kline

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