Beacon of Hope Ball set for later in the year

The Beacon of Hope Ball is the marquee event every year for Catholic schools in the Diocese of Albany.?

Due to the pandemic, the event, which normally takes place in late February or early March, has been postponed until an as-of-yet undetermined date.
“This year, obviously, we will be doing a virtual event,” said Kathleen Yanas, director of advancement and strategic partnerships?for diocesan schools. “We are in the very early planning stages of the event right now but … one thing that we will continue to do is honor our Community Spirit Award winners. There is one winner from each school and nominations can come from anyone at the school or in the parish. You could call it a people’s choice award. Anybody can nominate anybody else and we get these great nominations from people who really do go above and beyond to make our Catholic schools just so great.”?

Last year’s ball on Feb. 29 at the Peter D. Kiernan Plaza in Albany was one of the last big in-person events in the Diocese before New York State went into PAUSE because of the pandemic. The ball raised over $60,000 and the Leap of Faith Fundraiser, coupled with a matching donation from Stuyvesant Plaza, raised over $30,000. The ball is more than just a fundraiser, however.

“We really do look at the Beacon of Hope Ball as not only being a fundraiser for the Beacon of Hope Scholarships but also as a celebration of our schools and our teachers and our volunteers and staff and our kids and our families and, of course, our donors,” Yanas said. “We really celebrate everybody and I think that’s a big part of it and, so when we do a virtual event, we are keeping that in mind and we will make our plans from there.”
Read The Evangelist or follow online (evangelist.org) for Beacon of Hope Ball updates in the coming months.