October 24, 2000
CONTACT: Jim Aisner
HBS Communications
(617) 495-6157
Harvard Business School Students Send Cambridge Kids To Camp
BOSTON -- A number of children from Cambridge and Greater Boston will be able to go to camp next summer thanks to a donation from some 300 Harvard Business School MBA students to the Cambridge Camping Association.
The students -- all members of the School's "January cohort," whose academic calendar includes classes on campus throughout the summer -- organized several special events last July to create camaraderie and contribute to the welfare of the community beyond HBS.
Among several activities, including collecting food for the Greater Boston Food Bank and clothing for the Red Cross, was an auction that raised more than $15,000. "Students offered goods and services to their classmates - backrubs, a homemade dinner, or even a weekend at a family home," according to cohort members Andrew Lazzaro and Amelia Alberghini, both HBS '01. "Since we learned so much together at the School last summer, we wanted to use the auction proceeds to help kids have a great learning experience of their own - from sports to arts and crafts."
At a special ceremony in Cambridge on October 19, Lazzaro and Alberghini presented the cohort's check to the Cambridge Camping Association (CCA), a 106-year-old organization dedicated to helping hundreds of low-income, minority, and at-risk children have a fun-filled, well-supervised summer. The donation will establish a scholarship fund to support 10 youngsters. "We chose CCA," explained Lazzaro, "because it was clear to us they were passionate about their mission and very good at implementing it."
The cohort members say they would also like to establish ongoing personal relationships with the campers they support, even after the HBS students graduate in June. In addition, more fundraising efforts may be coming later in the year. "We had a Christmas-in-July theme during the summer," smiled Alberghini. "Let's just say that Santa's elves may be helping out again."