A night of PLAY! and generosity…
In October 2022, the VOCEL community gathered for a night of play, learning, and learning through play at our first ever benefit dinner—a joyous celebration called PLAY!
Guests had the opportunity to learn through play themselves, and hear about the latest research in brain science and play from our keynote speaker, Dr. Bo Stjerne Thomsen, the Chair of Learning Through Play at the LEGO Foundation. (Check out Dr. Thomsen's Twitter feed for ways educators and communities are leveraging play around the world.) We also heard from Dr. Tai Basurto, Director of School Leader Development at Chicago Public Schools, about the ways VOCEL and educators throughout Chicago are putting play into practice.
And in one of many heartwarming and powerful moments of the evening, we saw how VOCEL's approach of empowering parents has a community-wide ripple effect through the story of Claribel and her daughter Sharon. They were participants in VOCEL's Child Parent Academy when Sharon was a toddler, and now Claribel is supporting other parents as a Family Support Specialist at VOCEL. Check out their story in our 4-minute video!
Together, our community of sponsors and supporters raised $300,000 to fuel VOCEL's growth and create more stories like Claribel's and Sharon's. Thank you for being a part of VOCEL's village and helping bring brain-building play into homes and classrooms city-wide.
