Rotaract Club of Florida’s First Coast will host its 10th Annual Black Tie & Blue Jeans Gala on Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at the Modis Building (1 Independent Drive). Each year Rotaract members plan and host this fundraising cocktail event that features food from local restaurants and musical entertainment. Members select a different local organization each year to receive all funds raised at this annual event.

This year the beneficiary will be The Big Fun Box. Our 2010 Black Tie & Blue Jeans Gala raised $23,000 for the Morning Star School in Jacksonville. To date, this event has raised more than $140,000 for various organizations over the past 10 years.

2011 Gala Beneficiary:

The Big Fun Foundation is a Jacksonville-based 501(c)(3) organization with a national reach. The Foundation raises funding to create Big Fun Boxes; activity boxes that are donated to hospitalized children, around the country, to give them ways to distract themselves. The Foundation’s president and her late son established The Big Fun Foundation to help families who found themselves in similar situations to theirs—frequent and extended hospital stays for his cystic fibrosis, bilateral lung transplant and colon cancer. Their strength for maintaining their sense of humor and perspective was found through making up games to help distract them. The Big Fun Box is donated to children with any illness or injury so they and their families can learn some on the coping skills the founders used to see them through tough, boring, scary situations, and find comfort and fun during these times.

For additional information on the Big Fun Foundation visit their website at http://www.thebigfunbox.org/

Purchase Gala Tickets and Sponsorships

Ticket Level

Standard Ticket $52.00 Bowtie and Overalls Sponsor $206.10 Cummberbund and Jean Jacket Sponsor $514.80 Cufflinks and Capris Sponsor $1,029.30 Long Coat & Levi’s Sponsor $2,572.80

Referred by Rotaractor

View additional sponsorship information here: Gala 2011 Sponsor_Packet

2009-2010 Rotary International recognition of Rotaract outstanding projects recipients

• International: Rotaract Club of Manila (District 3810, Philippines) for “Response and Relief Program” (to collect and distribute relief supplies, provide medical assistance, and raise funds to rehabilitate two learning centers for residents of five communities affected by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in the region of Manila,
Philippines)

• Africa Districts: Rotaract Club of Quatre Bornes (District 9220, Mauritius) for “Let’s Change Their Future” (to provide bathing facilities and items, nutrition education, vitamin-rich foods, and school uniforms to 400 impoverished students at Serge Coutet Government School in Baie du Tombeau, Mauritius)

• Asia Pacific Districts: Rotaract Club of Chung Yuan (District 3520, Taiwan) for “Rotary Promises We Achieve” (to raise $10,000 in Taipei, Taiwan towards the global campaign to eradicate polio)

• Europe Districts: Rotaract Club of Izmir-Göztepe (District 2440, Turkey) for “Clean Sea Project” (to raise awareness of the need for and benefits of safe water and sanitation among 7,600 children in 47 primary schools in Izmir, Turkey)

• Latin America Districts: Rotaract Clubs of Puebla de los Ángelos, Puebla Centro Histórico, Puebla Industrial, and Chilpancingo de los Bravo (District 4180, Mexico) for “Centros Rotaract de Iniciación Technológica para Niños Indígenas (Rotaract Technology Centers for Indigenous Children)” (to provide four computer labs and remodel one school dormitory serving 300 indigenous youth in the region of Puebla, Mexico)

• South Asia Districts: Rotaract Club of Women’s Christian College (District 3230, India) for “Stree Suraksha” (to create awareness of domestic violence with the general public in Chennai, India)

• United States, Canada, and Caribbean Districts: Rotaract Club of Florida’s First Coast (District 6970, USA) for “Black Tie and Blue Jeans Gala” (to raise $22,000 for a school serving special needs children in Jacksonville, Florida)

View some of the photos from the event

Below is the text of the letter from Mr. Kenny.

1 May 2010

To Those Attending
The 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Rotaract Club of Florida’s First Coast

Dear Rotaractors:
I would like to extend my special welcome to the Black Tie and Blue Jeans Gala where you will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Rotaract Club of Florida’s First Coast.

Your presence tonight in Jacksonville—simply the fact that each of you has chosen to take the time and travel to be at this gala celebration, in itself says volumes about who you are. As Rotaractors, you’ve chosen to spend your time talking about subjects such as water, health, hunger, and literacy. You’ve chosen not to spend time on yourselves, but on others. You’ve chosen to spend it in service. I am proud to have you as part of Rotaract, and proud to have Rotaract as part of our organization.

As the poet Byron wrote, the days of our youth are the days of our glory. And in Rotaract, the days of your youth are the glory of all of Rotary. You are the future of Rotary, and you are the future of your communities. What you choose to do, what you choose to make of yourselves, will not only affect yourselves. It will affect us all.

As you celebrate this important milestone in your club’s history, remember the responsibility for Rotaract (and Rotary) is yours. And once the gala celebration is over, dream great dreams of Rotaract service. And go back to your club and sponsor Rotary Club to discover how to achieve them. The Future of Rotary Is in Your Hands.

Sincerely,

John Kenny
President, Rotary International

The annual Black Tie and Blue Jeans Gala will be held Saturday, May 1 at the Southlight Gallery, 100 North Laura Street, Jacksonville, Florida. Tickets are $50/person and can be purchased at jaxrotaract.org.

Don’t forget our membership meeting is this Thursday at the Haskell Building on Riverside Avenue. Our guest speaker will be Tax Collector Mike Hogan.

View photos from the 2009 Black Tie and Blue Jeans Gala

If you do not have tickets yet you can still sell. Tickets are available here at jaxrotaract.org and can be charged via Credit Card.

We look forward to seeing you at the membership meeting and dinner at Five Guys afterwards. For more information e-mail info@jaxrotaract.org.

How can you help? Come to the Rotaract membership meeting on February 26 and come to dinner after the meeting at Five Guys. If you can’t make the meeting you can still come to dinner and help raise money for DLC.

Five Guys Burgers
1620 Margaret St
Jacksonville, FL 32204

View Toni’s gallery of photos from the event in our photos section and become our contact on Flickr.