Shorecrest Announces Historic Philanthropic Evening

On Friday, January 11, a historic philanthropic evening for Shorecrest Preparatory School took place at Sea Salt in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. In one night, an event hosted by several Shorecrest families called “30 for 30” raised $1.2 million for the school’s Transform Campaign. Transform is the final puzzle piece to the Shorecrest campus: creating more than 60,000 square feet of new facilities and reimagining the lower campus to align with Shorecrest’s 2020 Vision & Strategic Plan.

The five host families including Helen and Chris Barrott, Stacy and Will Conroy, Nikki and Paul Pagano, Sarah and Augie Ribeiro, and Elizabeth and David Samuelson challenged other families within the community to match and exceed $30,000 personal gifts and pledges to support Shorecrest’s efforts to build the new Innovation Center and Community Commons. The challenge was accepted by 30 families.

The evening was also an opportunity to pay tribute to the campaign’s early leadership donors who provided financial support of leadership level donations to the Transform Campaign.

"I am continually amazed and humbled by the generosity of the community," said Mike Murphy, Headmaster of Shorecrest. "I don't only think of this as a financial success, but as a huge success in moving our campaign forward to finishing the Innovation Center and Community Commons.”

Shorecrest publicly announced the Transform Campaign in March 2018. Now, the campaign’s success marks a pivotal moment for Shorecrest, bringing the school closer to completing its campus master plan with facilities that match the quality of teaching and learning for which Shorecrest is known.

“We are honored to be a part of the Shorecrest community,” said Sarah Ribeiro, one of the host families. “Tonight really is a historic evening. To raise financial contributions of $1.2 million for one evening is amazing. We wanted to inspire new leadership donors and all Shorecrest families to join the Transform Campaign. This event celebrates the generosity of this community that continues to propel the Transform Campaign toward success.”

"Shorecrest has been more than just a phenomenal educational opportunity for our children. Over the past 15 years the Shorecrest community has become a family to us,” Elizabeth Samuelson, Immediate Past Board Chair and another of the host families said. “Shorecrest is in the middle of its largest fundraising campaign and with the recent momentum from our extremely generous donors we are rounding the bases toward home. We need to continue to dig deep and come together to reach our campaign goal. Contributing to this campaign will make a huge difference to our school, our community and most importantly our children."

To date, the Transform Campaign has raised over $8 million toward its $16 million goal.

Pictured above: 30 for 30 Host Families (Left to Right): Augie and Sarah Ribeiro, David and Elizabeth Samuelson, Stacy and Will Conroy, Nikki and Paul Pagano and Helen and Chris Barrott. Photo by Steven Le of the Thee Photo Ninja, TheePhotoNinja.com

 

About Transform:

In March 2018, Shorecrest launched Transform, the school's most ambitious capital campaign to date. Transform will fully foster community at Shorecrest with its first-ever Dining Hall, a new Experiential School, Library, Media and Innovation Centers all housed in a new 60,000 square foot facility. The project will also create over an acre and a half of greenspace in the heart of campus. To learn more about Transform visit www.TransformShorecrest.org.