SALEM — This year, LEAP for Education’s Great Expectations fundraiser is honoring two supporters of education while exploring the “Power of Partnerships.”
The Great Expectations fundraiser will be held 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at Danversport. This year’s recipient of the Distinguished Partner of the Year award comes as a duo: Cell Signaling Technology, and New England Biolabs.
The two organizations have been partners with LEAP for several years, with New England Biolabs joining in 2018 and Cell Signaling coming to the table in 2008, according to Linda Saris, executive director of LEAP for Education.
As partners, both have provided funding to the organization and been part of LEAP’s “Business Partner Network,” a group of local businesses that provide science workshops, field trips, speakers, and more.
“We are so grateful for all of our strong partners from schools, community and business and wanted to use our fundraiser to honor their shared commitment to quality education,” Saris said.
For Cell Signaling’s part, the organization has “chosen LEAP for Education as a corporate partner because of their reputation here on the North Shore for providing quality educational services to underserved youth,” said Krystyna Hincman, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Cell Signaling. “We’ve seen first-hand the work they do in preparing students for college and career.”
Sal Russello, CEO of New England Biolabs, will be the evening’s key note speaker.
He said New England Biolabs is “committed to the goal of building a more equitable society, and we believe advancing education and empowering employees to engage in their communities can help achieve it.”
“To that end, we’re proud to support LEAP for Education in their mission to make education more accessible to underserved communities,” Russello said.
LEAP for Education (LEAP) runs free, after-school and summer programs that it says are designed to bridge the opportunity gap for students from underserved communities across Essex County,
For more on Great Expectations and to buy tickets or donate, visit leap4ed.org.
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.