First Annual Ball of Hope Gala and Silent Auction Benefitting the Sandy Springs Mission

ATLANTA - March 3, 2014 - PRLog -- The Sandy Springs Mission (the Mission) announced its first annual Ball of Hope on Saturday, June 7, 2014 at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North.  The evening will feature a silent auction, dinner, live entertainment and dancing with a salsa flare.  Tickets for the event can be purchased on the Mission’s website at http://www.sandyspringsmission.org for $150 per person.  Sponsorship opportunities are still available and silent auction donations are also being accepted.

All proceeds raised from the event will benefit the Mission’s new ‘Can Do’ program for middle school students.  After 12 years of working with at-risk, primarily Hispanic, students from the Sandy Springs community, the Mission recognized a dramatic drop in academic performance between the elementary school and middle school years.  In response, the ‘Can Do’ program was created and designed to encourage academic improvement and personal growth giving these students tools to be successful in school, at home and in social settings.  The Ball of Hope event will be a key on-going funding vehicle for the program.

“Our goal is to see all of our children achieve academic success year-by-year and ultimately graduate from high school,” said Felix Lora the Mission’s Director.  “But, the middle school years present the biggest obstacle to attaining that goal.  The Ball of Hope event will help us raise awareness of this critical need in the Sandy Springs community and to deliver the resources necessary to address it.”

The Mission is changing and enhancing the lives of its students in many ways.  Our children face staggeringly negative statistics when it comes to education.  Graduation rates for Hispanic students hover in the 50-60% range.  However, the Mission’s student graduation rate is closer to 90%.

About the Mission
Since 2001, the Sandy Springs Mission has provided academic enrichment programs year-round to at-risk students attending Lake Forest & High Point Elementary, Ridgeview Middle and Riverwood High schools.  Our goal is to see each and every child pass their CRCT tests (required to move ahead to next grade) and ultimately to graduate from high school.  A 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, the Mission is dedicated to helping and inspiring at-risk* students.

We consider them at-risk if the student comes from a home where:
•English is not spoken as the primary language; 

•The parents are not able to help their children with schoolwork because of their own low-level of education;

•The parents cannot pay for the extra help necessary for their child to succeed in school.