Framingham, MA. (Top40 Charts/ Middlesex Savings Bank) Music and passion will be all the fashion, and they won't be doing just the merengue and the cha-cha at the Sheraton Framingham on
Thursday May 23. That night the hotel's main ballroom will become the Tropicana
Havana for the 2013 Latin Ball for the benefit of MetroWest ESL Plus.
"We're going to party like it's Havana, 1941"
The evening will feature the music of
Hector Cuevas and his 16-piece
Boston Latin Band, accompanied by popular singers Glenny and Chu Trompeta.
A 50-member contingent of instructors and dancers from the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Natick will also be on hand to demonstrate the popular Latin dances and offer lessons in cha-cha, rumba, mambo and salsa.
The Latin Ball is a new and glamor-filled approach to the fifteenth annual ESL Fund spring fund raiser. "We're going to party like it's Havana, 1941," said event chair Bruce Weisberg, senior vice president of Middlesex Savings Bank.
"We're also going to have a prize for the best 1940s outfit. The gentlemen should dig out their Panama hats and Palm Beach suits and think Bogart and Henreid. Ladies, don your elegant gowns and go femme fatale: Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, Hedy Lamarr," Weisberg added. "And we'll be raffling off a trip to
Little Havana in Miami."
The individual ticket price is just $100 and covers a complimentary Latin-style buffet. All proceeds from ticket sales, drinks, and specialty food items sold that evening will go to support ESL Plus, the Framingham-based English-as-a-Second-Language adult education program that has taught more than 12,000 students since 1984.
While not structured as a traditional fund-raising dinner, the Latin Ball has a goal of $70,000 from all sources including sponsorships. Both tickets and sponsorships may be reserved here. If proceeds reach that level, Sean and Lisa McGrath of the
Highland Street Foundation, a long-time supporter of ESL Plus, will contribute an additional $30,000 and bring the total raised to $100,000.
Weisberg is the third executive from Middlesex Savings to chair the ESL Fund's annual signature event. Middlesex will contribute $5,000 as a Benefactor for the evening. Other Benefactor
Sponsors to date are Bernardi Auto Group, MutualOne Charitable Foundation, and the McArdle Foundation. The TJX Companies and an anonymous family foundation have committed to sponsorships at the $1,500 Supporter Level. Angel's Painting and the law firm of
Fletcher Tilton are Associate
Sponsors at the $750 level.
"We have committed to MetroWest ESL Fund for over ten years because it is an outstanding public-private partnership that addresses a pressing need in our community," said Middlesex Savings Senior Vice President Jim Briand.
"Local high-tech and service industries attract workers from around the world. They are skilled in their jobs and literate in their native languages, but they often lack the English skills they need to move ahead. Framingham Adult ESL Plus delivers them the necessary instruction at a price they can afford," he noted.
