CSFP Holds 12th Award Ceremony Honoring New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the Philadelphia Phillies

On June 25th, hundreds of students and their families joined donors, community leaders, and special guests to celebrate the issuance of 2,000 new scholarship awards under the second year of CSFP’s Campaign for 10,000 Children. During the ceremony, CSFP recognized the education reform efforts of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie by naming him the 2013 CSFP Citizen of the Year and the community efforts in education and literacy of the Philadelphia Phillies by naming the team the CSFP Corporate Citizen of the Year.  CSFP also acknowledged the achievement of students currently in the program and several college and high school bound CSFP alumni who have excelled in their studies. This wonderful event serves as a strong and powerful reminder of CSFP’s positive impact on the lives of children.

In his address to the audience, Governor Christie emphasized the importance of giving all parents—regardless of income—the ability to provide their children with the best education possible. He stated his support for CSFP’s mission and commented that he was: “thrilled to see the opportunities that are presented here [by CSFP], and proud to be a small part of the solution.”

David Montgomery, accepting the CSFP Corporate Citizen of the Year award on behalf of the Philadelphia Phillies, also focused on parents in his speech, noting that his parents “sacrificed to give [him] a quality education.”

Roberto Santiago, a CSFP alumnus now a Penn State senior majoring in Applied Psychology, urged new scholarship recipients to follow their dreams with the help of “quality teachers, parents, and advisors.” Roberto’s story best illustrates the success of our program and the difference that providing early access to quality schools makes on the life of a child.

CSFP wishes our new scholarship recipients the best of luck! We also thank all those in attendance—including the Phillie Phanatic—for helping us to congratulate these winners. Photos of the event can be found on our Facebook and FlickR. For a video of the event, please click here.