Neighbor News
RBEF to host Virtual Gala in the newly wired RUHS Alumni House
The historic alumni house will be the backdrop for the Light Up The Night Gala on May 22
May 13, 2021, Redondo Beach, CA - The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation (RBEF) will be hosting its annual gala - Light Up the Night presented by Hoffman Murphy Real Estate Team, a little differently this year. As with many charities, with restrictions from a pandemic, planning had to include a virtual event. This year’s gala is a community event that highlights entertainment from the Redondo Beach Unified School District staff and students. We’re shining the spotlight on middle and high school bands, theater, chorus, and individual students, principals and even event sponsors.
However, the location was a big factor.
“While we’ve been thrilled to host past galas at the beautiful Portofino Hotel, this year’s virtual event needed something more. We asked ourselves “how can we truly showcase our community and the legacy of the RBEF as well as honor RBUSD in a new and exciting way?” shared Robin Garfield, Executive Director of RBEF. “We thought, since all roads lead to Redondo Union High School that would be the perfect backdrop”
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But where?
With 52 acres and the third largest high school campus in the country, choosing a location was no easy task. Then the RBEF Gala team entered the Alumni House and it was “magical.” “It is the perfect setting as the backdrop for honoring our students.” shared Terry Brady Martinez, RUHS Class of 1971 and current RUHS Archivist. “This house represents the coming together of Sea Hawks, past, present and future.”
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Except there’s one problem – the Alumni House has no internet connections to live stream an event. Principal Jens Brandt and the RBUSD Technical staff came to the rescue, and a project that was already on the list to happen, got pushed up.
“What a perfect backdrop for the RBEF Gala, providing a great opportunity for future Sea Hawks to experience these memories, albeit virtually,” said RUHS Principal Jens Brandt.
RUHS Alumni House opened in 2017 during the homecoming celebrations and each graduating class experience the tradition of passing through the house. The Class of 2020 was not able to participate in this tradition. Luckily, this tradition will be reinstated with the Class of 2021.
The RBEF Light up the Night Gala on May 22nd begins at 5:45PM for the Cocktail Reception and 6:00PM for the main event. Viewing tickets are $25 per family.. Meal Packages are also available for an additional cost. For more information, go to www.rbef.org
Additional gala sponsors include: Balfour Beatty, The Kensington Senior Living, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Tito’s Love and McKenna BMW, with the Cocktail hour sponsored by Uncorked, Metro Wine Marketing and Free Juice. All proceeds from the gala support programs for our 10,000 RBUSD students district-wide.
The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation (RBEF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire our community to invest in Redondo Beach public schools so that every student can develop knowledge and skills that go beyond what public funding alone would achieve. Established in 1991 by a group of concerned parents and community leaders who realized that an excellent school system could not rely on state funding alone. At RBEF we believe the best opportunities come from raising the most well-rounded children, and we support whole child development through funding of STEM, Music, College and Career Readiness, Teacher Grants and more. To find out more, please email [email protected].
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