Join us for the 2025 Gala!
Now more than ever, the children we serve in low-income neighborhoods need the enrichment programs Sophie Gerson Healthy Youth provides. By attending our Gala, you make it possible for more children in our partner schools to participate in after school sports, music, science and other programs, and to make life-long memories at our top quality partner camp, Camp Zeke, in the Pocono Mountains!
June 25, 2025, 5:30pm
Doors open at 5:00pm
48 Wall Street, NY
RSVP by June 18
Note: To pay by check, please mail to Sophie Gerson Healthy Youth, 505 LaGuardia Place; Suite 20A, New York, NY 10012
To pay by a method other than check or credit card, or if you have questions, please call Alan Gerson: 917-836-3272.
What your night includes:
- Full-course delicious buffet, plus beer, wine, and champagne
- Special Guest Star Presenters and Performers, including: NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, DJ Spooky, Professor Sylvain Cappell, Soundboy & His Band, ChiChi (J Pop Star), Avram Pengas and other surprises
- Performances by SGHY Children with the NY Conservatory of Music & National Dance Institute
Featuring: Master of Ceremonies Colin Quinn
SGHY is thrilled to announce Colin Quinn as host for its 2025 Gala. This popular comedian, social commentator, and star of the Netflix specials and off-Broadway shows Red State Blue State, The New York Story, and Unconstitutional is sure to make this a night you don’t want to miss!
Distinguished Gala Honorees
Recognized for their exceptional contributions to bettering the lives of children
Dr. Stephon Alexander
Dr. Stephon Alexander, Professor of Physics at Brown University, is a world renowned theoretical physicist, author, and jazz musician, whose research bridges cosmology, particle physics, quantum gravity, AI, and music theory. He is a past president of the National Society of Black Physicists. As founder and CEO of the nonprofit Sound+Science, Dr. Alexander pioneered an innovative curriculum of using music as an inspirational entry point for high school students to engage with and learn about STEM disciplines. This upcoming school year, SGHY with Dr. Alexander will extend Sound+Science to our partner middle schools.
Ramón Cruz
Ramón Cruz has spent decades committed to environmental justice, policy and advocacy in both the public and private sectors, drawing on his expertise and experience in the intersecting fields of sustainability, environmental policy, urban planning, energy and climate change, as Deputy Director of Puerto Rico’s Environmental Regulatory Agency and most recently as a visiting professor at Princeton University. In 2020, the Sierra Club, our nation’s oldest and largest environmental organization, selected Ramón Cruz to serve as its national President, the first Latino-American to do so. In that capacity, Mr. Cruz expanded Sierra Club youth programs, making it possible for City youth to experience and engage with nature in the wild. Today, SGHY partners with the Sierra Club in our Outdoor Nature Program, bringing middle school students who seldom, if ever, leave their concrete neighborhoods to the great outdoors beyond City limits to hike in the woods and experience and explore nature in the different seasons.
Anne Goldman
Anne Goldman, a Registered Professional Nurse, serves as the first-ever Vice President of non-DOE members of the United Federation of Teachers. She was among the first to seek collective-bargaining rights for nurses in New York City. During the COVID period, SGHY relied on nurses to ensure the health of students– not one child in our programs contracted COVID! In honoring Anne Goldman, we honor these nurses. Anne has been an effective voice and leader for nurses’ needs, ensuring they have the respect, compensation, and supplies to keep children, and all of us, healthy!
Lewis H. “Skip” Hartman
Lewis H. “Skip” Hartman co-founded and served as the longtime pro bono CEO of the New York Junior Tennis League, now NY Junior Tennis & Learning, SGHY’s partner tennis provider. Since 1971, NYJTL has raised nearly $20 million to help provide free tennis programs for New York City youth. Additionally, Skip founded the Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation, now New York Edge. The two rank as the largest providers of after-school programs in NYC. Skip has played leading roles with the USTA Schools Program, the National Tennis Teachers Conference, and Play Tennis America. Along with partner Bob Kelton, Skip founded HCK Recreation and opened the Stadium Tennis Center, pioneering the use of air structures for indoor tennis on public land.
Alice O’Neil
As a former English teacher, now-retired UFT District Representative for Vocational and Specialized High Schools, and UFT Chapter Leader of Food and Finance High School, Alice O’Neil has organized and advocated on behalf of teachers and children for over three decades. Throughout her illustrious career in education, Alice epitomized the ideals of Sophie Gerson, advocating for a school system which meets the individual needs of each student and equips teachers to ensure lifelong opportunities for all students.
Veronica Tsang
Veronica Tsang, an Executive Vice President and Chief Retail Administrator of Cathay Bank, is also one of the founders of the Chinese Gift of Life, which provides free open-heart surgery in the U.S. to disadvantaged children from China with congenital heart disease. Ms. Tsang has devoted countless hours and exceptional leadership as a board member and officer at several major not-for-profit organizations that provide critical top-quality services to children of all backgrounds, including as the past Chair and current Board Member of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC). Ms. Tsang serves on the Board of the Flushing Medical Center of the NY Presbyterian hospital system.
Getting There
Subway: Close stations include Wall Street on the 2, 3, 4, and 5 lines; the Broad Street Station on the J line.
