Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools, the largest scholarship organization in Pennsylvania, hosted its annual gala at the Please Touch Museum on May 29.
BLOCS funds more than 33,000 scholarships for Pre-Kindergarten to 12th-grade students.
The theme was Building What Matters Most.
The hostess was Alicia Vitarelli, Channel 6 Action News anchorwoman who attended Catholic elementary and high schools and Villanova University.
Archbishop Nelson Perez offered an invocation and benediction.
Perez said there are some 45,000 students in Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools.
The archbishop recalled BLOCS being helpful when he was pastor at St. William, in Lawncrest, and St. Agnes, in West Chester.
The event featured a cocktail reception, dinner, an appearance by Fralinger String Band, student speaker Alivia Leuzzi of Neumann-Goretti and Teacher Appreciation Awards to Danielle DiCristino and Elizabeth Dobrzynski, of St. Laurence Elementary School in Upper Darby.
BLOCS CEO Rob Delany thanked the evening’s sponsors.
Delany said BLOCS raises about $140 million annually.
Delany, who has been on the job for eight months, described his stint at BLOCS as “the best and most important work of my life.”
The scholarships are largely funded through the state Department of Community and Economic Development’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit programs.
Delany thanked the legislature for appropriating EITC money.
Among those in attendance were state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick and state Reps. Amen Brown, Jordan Harris and Kristin Marcell. ••
